Device, system and method for football catch computer gaming

ABSTRACT

A system, method and apparatus for outdoor computer gaming is disclosed in which an actual physical football, equipped with a motion sensor, is used as the user manipulatable object by which users provide gaming input. Some embodiments provide a computer moderated catch game comprising a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by a user and when the tossable gaming object has been caught by a user, and run a scoring routine that determines a gaming score based at least in part upon a plurality of determined throw events and a plurality of determined catch events.

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/298,434 filed Dec. 9, 2005, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/648,157 filed Jan. 28, 2005, both of which are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.

This application also claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/812,734 filed Jun. 12, 2006, which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a gaming device, system and method of use and more specifically to computerized outdoor gaming devices and methods for providing the gaming devices.

2. Discussion of the Related Art

Interactive computer entertainment is currently dominated by an indoor paradigm in which one or more players sit passively in front of a display screen and manually manipulate a controller to interact with the displayed gaming action. This paradigm holds true for games on personal computers, gaming consoles, and handheld computer games. Over recent years, the realism of gaming action has improved with significantly better graphics and improved feedback, but the actual game play has changed little. It is still dominated by kids and adults sitting before a flashing screen, socially isolated, immobile and transfixed, with glassy eyes and flailing fingers. This “virtual exercise” does little for maintaining physical fitness, development of teamwork and other social skills. In particular, kids and adolescence are becoming increasingly overweight due to poor diets and lack of exercise, some of which is attributed to the sedentary nature of current computer gaming. In addition, excessive violence in video games is an unfortunate trend, exacerbated by the steadily increasing levels of visual realism.

In relation to computer games which involve manipulation of a ball, for example, sports oriented games such as football computer games, the balls are simulated on a display screen and manipulated by users by pressing buttons upon handheld controllers. This provides a highly abstract relationship between the physical actions required of the user and the physical actions involved in playing the real sport.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Several embodiments of the invention advantageously address the needs above as well as other needs by providing computerized outdoor gaming devices and methods for providing the gaming devices.

In some embodiments, the invention can be characterized as a computer moderated catch game comprising a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by the user and when the tossable gaming object has been caught by a second user, and run a scoring routine that determines a gaming score based at least in part upon a plurality of determined throw events and a plurality of determined catch events.

In some embodiments, the invention can be characterized as a computer moderated throwing game comprising a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data a time interval that represents the duration between when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by the user and when the tossable gaming object is ensuingly caught or hits the ground, run a height estimating routine that determines an estimated maximum height achieved by the tossable gaming object during the time interval, and run a scoring routine that determines a score based upon the estimated maximum height achieved by the tossable gaming object during each of a plurality of throws.

In some embodiments, the invention can be characterized as a computer moderated throwing game comprising a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data a time interval that represents the duration between when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by the user and when the tossable gaming object is ensuingly caught or hits the ground, run a distance estimating routine that determines an estimated distance achieved by the tossable gaming object during the time interval, and run a scoring routine that determines a score based upon the estimated distance achieved by the tossable gaming object during each of a plurality of throws.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other aspects, features and advantages of several embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following more particular description thereof, presented in conjunction with the following drawings.

FIG. 1 depicts a generalized block diagram of a portable gaming computer;

FIG. 1A depicts a generalized block diagram of a tossable football object;

FIG. 1B depicts a first form factor of a tossable football object;

FIG. 2 depicts an embodiment of the invention where the tossable gaming object is wirelessly linked to one ore more portable gaming computers;

FIG. 2A depicts another embodiment of the invention where the tossable gaming object is only linked to one of the portable gaming computers when in proximity to a localized electromagnetic field;

FIG. 2B depicts another embodiment of the invention where the tossable gaming object is programmed to determine one or more projectile motion values;

FIG. 3 depicts accelerometer data for a centered thrust axis sensor for a football being thrown and caught measured as a function of elapsed time, the throw having a quality spiral;

FIG. 3A depicts accelerometer data for a centered thrust axis sensor for a football being thrown and caught measured as a function of elapsed time, the throw having a poor spiral;

FIG. 3B—depicts accelerometer data for a centered thrust axis sensor for a football being thrown and missed measured as a function of elapsed time, the throw having a poor spiral;

FIG. 3C depicts a tossable football object with a thrust axis accelerometer positioned on the thrust axis at a location that is forward of the center of mass by a Forward Offset distance;

FIG. 3D depicts accelerometer data for a FORWARD OFFSET thrust axis sensor for a football being thrown and missed measured as a function of elapsed time;

FIG. 4 depicts a flow chart of an embodiment of the invention in which a tossable gaming object is in processing communications with a portable gaming computer.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding components throughout the several views of the drawings. Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, but is made merely for the purpose of describing the general principles of exemplary embodiments. The scope of the invention should be determined with reference to the claims.

The present invention relates to outdoor gaming devices and methods for providing the gaming devices. In the context of sports games, the indoor paradigm that currently dominates gaming provides a highly abstract relationship between the physical actions required of the user and the physical actions involved in playing the real sports. For example, while playing a simulated football game upon a gaming machine, a user may be provided with a highly realistic visual representation of the game and yet will not experience, develop, or refine any of the real physical skills required of the actual game—for example the skills required to successfully throw and catch a football. In addition the indoor paradigm of typical computer games which restrict gaming actions to a display screen and/or limit the input provided by users to relatively small motions that can be made in close proximity to the display screen, is not amenable to computer moderated gaming experiences in which real sporting skills may be developed and refined upon a real playing field.

Therefore, a fundamentally new paradigm for interactive computer entertainment is desired wherein play is no longer restricted substantially to a screen, the passive player becoming a physically active and mobile participant. More specifically, a new paradigm for interactive computer entertainment is desired in which users can throw and catch real physical sporting balls upon real physical playing fields at speeds and distances that enable the development of real physical sporting skills by the players. Even more specifically, a new paradigm for computer moderated football is desired in which users can throw and catch a real physical football upon real playing field that will enable the development of real throwing and catching skills by the players while a computer moderated gaming paradigm administers gaming rules and computes gaming scores. An important motivation for such, in this new gaming paradigm is to allow kids and adults the benefit of computer orchestrated games, but not relegate such gaming to generally stationary and sedentary experiences to the indoors.

Interactive outdoor gaming addresses the desirable aspects lacking in the relevant art. The invention provides users with an outdoor computer gaming experience in which a portable gaming computer is programmed to orchestrate a game of football catch, including computer moderated gaming rules, and computer moderated scorekeeping for two or more players. The portable gaming computer is wirelessly coupled to an intelligent tossable football peripheral device including one or more motion sensors, processing electronics, and wireless communication circuitry embedded within the tossable football object.

In an device embodiment of the invention, a gaming peripheral device is generally encompassed in a tossable football object comprising; a sensor operatively coupled to a microprocessor, said sensor producing signals indicative of a dynamic event involving the tossable football object, said microprocessor being programmed to process the signals produced by the sensor; and a wireless transceiver operatively coupled to the microprocessor for transmitting the processed sensor signals to a separate portable gaming computer, said separate portable gaming computer operative to monitor football motion, moderate gaming rules and gaming progress, compute a gaming score, and display gaming information to a game player.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the sensor signals are processed to determine one of a plurality of ball states, including a Static State, a Carry State, and a Throw State. In some embodiments of the present invention, the sensor signals are processed to determine one of a plurality of distinct dynamic events, including a throw of the football object, a catch of the football object, and a miss of the football object. In such embodiments each of a dynamic throw event, a dynamic catch event, and a dynamic miss event, are determined by one or more characteristic time varying profiles present in the sensor signals. In some embodiments a dynamic in-air event is also determined. In general a dynamic in-air event is determined as a time varying sensor profile between a determined dynamic throw event and one of a catch event and a miss event. In some embodiments a dynamic carry event is also determined, said dynamic carry event corresponding to a user carrying the football in his or her hands or arms. In general a dynamic carry event is determined as a time varying sensor profile of one or more sensors such that the sensor readings are above a certain minimum threshold level and below a certain maximum threshold level, thereby indicating that the ball is in motion but is not being tossed. In some embodiments a dynamic hike event is also determined, said dynamic hike event corresponding to a user hiking the football from a rest position. In general a dynamic hike event is determined as a time varying sensor profile following a period in which the sensor readings are substantially at or near zero readings.

In some embodiments the time varying nature of said sensor signal is further processed to characterize a throw of said football object. In some such embodiments an elapsed time value is determined between a detected throw dynamic event and a detected catch dynamic event. Such a time value is referred to herein as a flight time value. In some embodiments of the present invention, the flight time value is used to determine and/or estimate the maximum height of the football trajectory between said detected throw dynamic event and said dynamic catch dynamic event. In some embodiments of the present invention the flight time value is used, at least in part, to determine and/or estimate the distance of the football trajectory between said detected throw dynamic event and said dynamic catch dynamic event. In some embodiments of the present invention the flight time value is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to an accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments a portion of the sensor signals that are determined to be part of a dynamic throw event is further processed to determine and/or estimate an initial velocity at which the ball leaves the throwers hand. In some such embodiments the initial velocity is determined at least in part by determining an average acceleration of the dynamic throw event and a throw time duration of the dynamic throw event, said throw time duration being the approximate time duration from the detected start of the throw event (i.e. when the ball starts accelerating under propulsion of a user's throw) to the detected completion of the throw event (i.e. when the ball leaves the user's hand and thus stops accelerating under the propulsion of the user's hand). In some such embodiments the initial velocity is determined at least in part by multiplying said average acceleration of the dynamic throw event by said throw time duration of the dynamic throw event. In some such embodiments the sensor is an accelerometer that reports a time varying profile of acceleration values during said dynamic throw event. In some embodiments the initial velocity is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments a toss distance value is computed and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and dynamic catch event, used in combination with said initial velocity value. In some such embodiments a horizontal component of said initial velocity value is used based upon an angle value for said initial velocity. In some embodiments the toss distance is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments a toss distance value is computed and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and dynamic catch event, used in combination with at least one acceleration value for the dynamic throw event. In some such embodiments the at least one acceleration value is an average acceleration value for said dynamic throw event. In some embodiments the toss distance is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments a toss height value is computed and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and a dynamic catch event. In some such embodiments the toss height value is computed, at least in part, based upon one half the flight time value squared. In some such embodiments the toss height value is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments the time varying sensor data of a dynamic in-air event is processed to determine the spiral quality of the flight of the football, the spiral quality being how well the user threw the football such that it is rotating primarily about the long axis. In some such embodiments the time varying profile of said sensor signal data is assessed between said throw event and said catch event. In some such embodiments the time varying magnitude of an acceleration value is used, at least in part, to determine the quality of the spiral of the throw of the football. In some such embodiments the quality of the spiral of the throw of the football is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some such embodiments of the present invention, a number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs are determined by the software of the present invention. In some such embodiments the number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs are used, at least in part, to determine a score and/or a score increment to be added to the accruing score of a current player or players. In some such embodiments the flight time, toss distance, toss height, and/or toss spiral quality is used in combination with the number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs to determine a score amount to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players. In some embodiments the score displayed is the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs. In some embodiments the score displayed is the accrued distance thrown of the consecutive throw-catch pairs.

In some embodiments of the present invention the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports in a verbal form related to a given football toss and/or catch. The audio reports may include descriptive phrases that are output dependent upon an assessment of each dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, and/or dynamic miss event.

In some such embodiments, an assessment of a dynamic throw event that meets certain parameters, for example exceeding certain magnitude thresholds, will cause the present invention to output an audible phrase such as “good throw” or “good toss” or “nice pass”. In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic throw event, for example the sound of a rocket taking off.

In some such embodiments, an assessment of a dynamic catch event that meets certain parameters, for example being within certain magnitude limits, will cause the present invention to output an audible phrase such as “good catch” or “good hands” or “nice grab” or “touchdown!” In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic catch event, for example the sound of a stadium crowd cheering or the sound of an impact or explosion.

In some such embodiments, a high quality assessment of a dynamic in-air event will cause the present invention to output an audible phrase such as “good spiral”.

In some such embodiments a detection of a dynamic miss event will cause the present invention to output an audible phrase such as “incomplete” and/or “miss” or “ouch.” In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic miss event, for example the sound of a bomb exploding. In some such embodiments the sound effect may be dependent upon the rolling and/or bouncing motion detected in the miss event, for example extending for a duration during which the ball rolls or bounces and/or being triggered off some or more of the detected bounces.

In some such embodiments, the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports upon the successful completion of a toss-catch pair the football, the audio report including a verbal indication and/or estimation of the total flight time, flight distance, and/or flight height of the football. In some such embodiments the audio report upon a catch of the football may be an audible announcement of the number of yards the football is estimated to have traveled prior to being caught.

In some such embodiments, the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports during the flight time of a particular toss of the football. In some such embodiments the audio reports include determined and/or estimated current distances of flight of the football during the throw. In some such embodiments the audio report may be an audible announcement of the number of yards the football is estimated to have traveled thus far in the toss trajectory. In such some embodiments the announcements are made in regular intervals, for example every ten yards. In some such embodiments sound effects are output during the flight time, for example the sound of a rocket approaching.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the portable gaming device is configured to output an audio report after a successful catch event, the audio report being indicative of the number of consecutive successful toss-catch pairs achieved thus far in a current game or portion of a current game. In this way the players get an update of the toss-catch pair count upon each consecutive successful catch. Thus, users get a verbal audio report of the gaming score, determined based at least in part upon a number of determined throw-catch pairs performed in a row without a determined miss, i.e. without the football hitting the ground.

In some embodiments, each player is equipped with a portable gaming computer, each of said plurality of portable gaming devices being in wireless communication with the football peripheral device and/or with another of said portable gaming computers. In this way, visual and/or audio status updates and/or scoring updates may be individually presented to each player participating in the computer moderated football catch game by his or her own portable gaming device.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a pair of players engaged in a football catch game are awarded a combined score based upon the success of their paired tossing and catching activities. In other embodiments each player in a pair of players engaged in a football catch game are awarded individual scores based upon one or more of the distance of their throws, the airtime of their throws, the spin quality of their throws, the height of their throws, and/or an assessment of their catches. In some such embodiments, the scores of each player maintained individually based upon the sequential order of their tosses, assuming they take repeated turns throwing the ball to the other. In some embodiments both a joint score and individual scores are both maintained and displayed by the gaming software of the present invention.

The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for computer gaming which utilizes actual physical objects that are physically tossed from one player to another player rather than virtual computer generated objects that are merely tossed in simulation. More specifically, the present invention provides a system, method, and apparatus for computer gaming in which a portable gaming computer is programmed to orchestrate a game of football catch, including computer moderated gaming rules, and computer moderated scorekeeping for two or more players, the game being enabled among player who successively throw and catch a real football from one to the other. The portable gaming computer is wirelessly coupled to an intelligent tossable football peripheral device including one or more motion sensors, processing electronics, and wireless communication circuitry embedded within the tossable football object.

Various embodiments of the invention allow one or more players to interact with the tossable football peripheral, tossing it and catching it, as a primary means of interacting with a gaming software application. The various embodiments of the invention include a portable gaming computer for running said gaming software application, said portable gaming computer in wireless communication with said tossable football peripheral device. The portable gaming computer is programmed to orchestrate game play and keep score without necessarily presenting simulated gaming action on a display screen. The gaming experience may maintain individual or group scores depending upon the gaming program selected. Where necessary, programs, algorithms and routines may be programmed in a high level language object oriented language, for example, Java™ C++, C#, C or Visual Basic™ or low level assembly language.

In an device embodiment of the invention, a gaming peripheral device is generally encompassed in a tossable football object comprising; a sensor operatively coupled to a microprocessor, said sensor producing signals indicative of a dynamic event involving the tossable football object, said microprocessor being programmed to process the signals produced by the sensor; and a wireless transceiver operatively coupled to the microprocessor for transmitting the processed sensor signals to said separate portable gaming computer running said gaming application, said separate portable gaming computer operative to monitor football motion, moderate gaming rules and gaming progress, compute a gaming score, and display gaming information to a game player.

Referring to FIG. 1, a generalized block diagram of a portable gaming computer 100C is depicted. The portable gaming computer 100C includes a communications infrastructure 90 used to transfer data, memory addresses where data files are to be found and control signals among the various components and subsystems associated with the portable gaming computer 100C. A microprocessor 5 is provided to interpret and execute logical instructions stored in the memory 10. The memory 10 is the primary general purpose storage area for instructions and data to be processed by the microprocessor 5. The term “memory” 10 is used in its broadest sense and includes RAM, EEPROM and ROM.

A secondary memory 30 subsystem may also be provided which houses optional retrievable storage units such as a hard disk drive 35, a logical media storage drive 40 and an optional removal storage unit 50. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the hard disk drive 35 may be replaced with flash memory. The removable storage unit 50 may be used to update programs and data with new release versions.

The secondary memory 30 may store a variety of information related to game play. In some embodiments the secondary memory 30 stores digital audio files that may be retrieved and played to the player during game play, the digital audio files including background music and/or sound effects that may be selectively played to the player in coordination with certain detected gaming events.

The memory 10, and/or a supplemental secondary memory 30, may include digitized audio samples including a digitized storage of football related audible phrases such as “good throw,” “good toss,” “nice pass,” “good catch,” “good hands”, “nice grab,” “touchdown”, “incomplete,” “miss”, “good spiral,” “ten yards”, “twenty yards,” etc.

A timing circuit 15 is provided to coordinate activities within the portable gaming computer in near real time. The microprocessor 5, memory 10 and timing circuit 15 are directly operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90.

The microprocessor 5 is programmed with executable instructions to orchestrate game play in conjunction with input signals received from a player interface 60 and an internal transceiver 65. Game orchestration includes moderating, scorekeeping and officiating over game play. Game orchestration also include assessing and/or quantifying game related physical actions such as football throws, football catches, football misses, and/or tracking the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs among players. Game orchestration may also include accentuating detected game events such as football throws, football catches, and football misses, with audio reports such as output audible phrases and/or output audio sound effects. Game orchestration may also visually displaying game status information.

A display interface 20 is provided to drive a display 25 associated with the portable gaming computer 100C. The display interface 20 is operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90 and provides signals to the display 25 for visually outputting both graphical displays and alphanumeric characters. The display interface 20 may include a dedicated graphics microprocessor and memory to support the displaying of graphics intensive media. The display 25 may be of any type (e.g., cathode ray tube, gas plasma) but in most circumstances will usually be a solid state device such as liquid crystal display (LCD) and/or a combination of light emitting diodes (LED). In some embodiments the display 25 may be head mounted such that a player 210 (FIG. 2) can view information while keeping his or her hands free.

In an embodiment of a head-mounted display, the display 25 provides gaming information upon a semi-transparent screen such that a player may view the real physical world through the screen while simultaneously viewing gaming information overlaid upon and/or around the player's view of the real physical world. For example, the gaming score might be displayed as a small overlaid graphic upon the player's direct view of the real physical world.

An internal power source 45 such as a battery supplies electrical energy to operate the electrical circuits included in the portable gaming computer 100C. A communications interface 55 is provided which allows for standardized electrical connection of peripheral devices to the communications infrastructure 90 including, serial, parallel, USB, and Firewire™ connectivity. For example, a player interface 60 and a transceiver 65 are operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90 via the communications interface 55. For purposes of this specification, the term player interface 60 includes the hardware and software by which a player interacts with the portable gaming computer 100C and the means by which the portable gaming computer 100C conveys information to the player and may include certain interactions with the display interface 20 and display 25.

The transceiver 65 facilitates the remote exchange of data and synchronizing of signals between the portable gaming computer 100C and the tossable football peripheral device 100P (FIG. 1A). The transceiver may also be used to communicate with other portable gaming computers 100C′ (FIG. 2) in coordinated game play. In a common embodiment of the present invention, each player engaged in the football catch game has a portable gaming computer 100C upon his or her person. In this way, for example, a pair of players engaged in a computer moderated football catch game can each receive gaming information and/or gaming sounds displayed to him or her from the portable gaming computer 100C upon his or her person.

In one embodiment of the invention, the transceiver 65 is envisioned to be of a radio frequency type normally associated with computer networks for example, wireless computer networks based on BlueTooth™ or the various IEEE standards 802.11x, where x denotes the various present and evolving wireless computing standards, for example WiMax 802.16 and WRANG 802.22. Alternately, digital cellular communications formats compatible with for example GSM, 3G, CDMA, TDMA and evolving cellular communications standards. Both peer-to-peer (PPP) and client-server models are envisioned for implementation of the invention. In a third alternative embodiment, the transceiver 65 may include hybrids of computer communications standards. An antenna 85 is provided to transmit and receive radio frequency radiation. The antenna 85 may be configured as an internal wire loop, a fixed length external antenna (e.g., “rubber ducky”) or telescoping whip antenna.

In another embodiment of the invention, the transceiver 65 is configured as an RFID transceiver (scanner) for transmitting to an RFID chip (FIG. 1A) encompassed in the tossable football object 200 (FIG. 1A). In this embodiment, the transceiver transmits phase, pulse or frequency modulated signals, which if in sufficient proximity to the transceiver 65, energizes the RFID chip causing the chip to transpond with an identification code colloquially known as a “barking bar code.” The identification code is then received by the transceiver 65.

In some embodiments, the RFID transceiver 65 may also be operative to program the RFID chip, causing data to be transmitted to the chip and stored within it. Such embodiment may be used, for example, to enable a portable gaming computer 100C to selectively program an RFID enabled tossable football object 200 thereby changing the gaming action.

The player interface 60 employed on the portable gaming computer 100C may include a pointing device (not shown) such as a mouse, thumbwheel or track ball, an optional touch screen (not shown); one or more push-button switches (not shown) one or more sliding or circular rheostat controls (not shown), one or more voice recognition units (not shown), one or more tactile feedback units (not shown), and one or more other type switches (not shown.).

The player interface 60 provides interrupt signals to the microprocessor 5 that may be used to interpret player interactions with the portable gaming computer 100C. Various embodiments of the invention may incorporate portions of the player interface 60 with the display interface 20 and display 25. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the player interface devices which are not shown are well known and understood.

An optional global positioning transceiver (GPS) 70 may be operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90 to provide geospatial information for use in various gaming implementations. In such embodiments the GPS transceiver provides data indicating the current geospatial location of the player that has the portable gaming device upon his or her person. In some such embodiments a magnetometer is also included for use with the GPS transceiver for providing current geospatial orientation information for the portable gaming device. In this way the gaming software application running upon the portable gaming device can assess the current geospatial position and/or orientation of the player and/or players when assessing gaming action and/or computing gaming score. It should be noted that not all embodiments of the present invention include or utilize such geospatial tracking components within the portable gaming device. It is an advanced feature for advanced embodiments.

Lastly, an audio subsystem 80 is provided and operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90. The audio subsystem provides for the output of sounds corresponding to gaming instructions, voice output reciting the score or other game statistics, alert tones and sound effects to a game player, and/or game related audible phrases. The sound effects may be programmed to correspond with a player's perceived physical motion of projectiles and other tossed objects to enhance the player's gaming experience. For example, as a ball is thrown, the frequency of a sound effect may increase with height, distance, and/or time of flight. This could provide a player with a sensory clue about the height the ball traveled, the distance of the ball, the speed of the ball, and/or the time until it will return to earth. The audio subsystem includes a speaker 95 output or headphones. Connection headphones includes both traditional cable and wireless arrangements such as BlueTooth™ which are known in the relevant art.

The portable gaming computer 100C is envisioned to be encompassed within a highly portable housing such as a palm-sized case or smaller form factor which may be held or worn by the player analogous to the various designs of, for example, the compact and highly portable Apple iPod™ In addition, the portable gaming computer 100C need not be a specialized piece of hardware, but may employ commercially available handheld gaming devices such as a Nintendo Gameboy™, personal data assistant (PDA) or a suitably equipped cellular telephone. The portable gaming computer 100C is also envisioned to be built into a wrist-watch and worn like a watch on the player's wrist during play or incorporated in a set headphones and/or suitably equipped eye glasses.

The portable gaming computer 100C includes an operating system, the necessary hardware and software drivers necessary to fully utilize the devices operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90, and programmatic instructions operatively loaded into the memory 10 to perform game orchestration in conjunction with player's interactions with player interface 60 and data received from the tossable football peripheral device 100P via the transceiver 65.

Additional programmatic instructions may be provided to perform data logging where the data collected from the tossable football peripheral device 100P may be stored for future analysis, replay, or downloading to other computers. This collected data could be used for educational purposes. For example, the tossable football peripheral device 100P encompassed inside a tossable football object 200 (FIG. 1A) may be used to illustrate projectile motion to physics students.

Other programmatic instructions may provide game status information, such as the current score of the game, the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs, the distance of the latest throw, the height of the latest throw, the spin quality of the latest throw, and/or the catch quality and/or impact magnitude of the latest catch. Such information may be displayed visually upon the portable gaming computer and/or as audio reports from the audio output hardware of the portable gaming computer.

FIG. 1A provides a generalized block diagram of a first embodiment of the tossable football peripheral device 100P encompassed within a tossable football object (ball 200A). One skilled in the art will appreciate that many of the components, circuits, interfaces and devices are equivalent to those described for the portable gaming computer 100C. In certain instances, abbreviated descriptions are provided to avoid duplicity and to simplify the understanding of the invention. In these instances, the description provided for the portable gaming computer 100C should be referred to.

The tossable football object 200 may be in the encompassed in various form factors including a ball 200A of substantially the same size, weight, shape, and reliance of a standard football. The football may achieve its reliance through an inflatable portion and/or through the use of an alternate resilient material such as foam, Nerf, or rubber.

The tossable football peripheral device 100P includes a communications infrastructure 90P, a microprocessor 5P, a memory 10P and a timing circuit 15P. The microprocessor 5P, memory 10P, timing circuit 15P and communications infrastructure 90P may be integrated into a common chip for space and electrical power savings as well as improved ruggedness.

The microprocessor 5P is programmed with executable instructions to process sensor signals received from a sensor interface 70P and transmit the processed sensor signals via an internal transceiver 65P to a portable gaming computer 100C.

An optional display interface 20P may be provided to drive an optional display 25P. Where applicable, the microprocessor 5P may further be programmed to perform game play in conjunction with input signals received from a player interface 60P via simple push button switches 60A, 60B and output information to a player on the display 25P.

An optional secondary memory 30P may be provided in embodiments of the invention where data storage and greater programming flexibility are desirable. For example, where the tossable football peripheral device 100P is performing time integration functions and/or processing multiple sensor inputs, a secondary memory 30P may be necessary to avoid overflowing the primary memory 10P.

An internal power source 45P such as a battery supplies electrical energy to operate the electrical circuits included in the tossable football peripheral device 100P. In some embodiments an inertial power generation system is employed within the tossable football peripheral device 100P to generate power in response to the physical motions induced upon it by a player 210.

A communications interface 55P is provided which optionally provides for direct electrical connection of the tossable football peripheral device 100P to the portable gaming computer 100C or another computer system. A simplified player interface 60P and a transceiver 65P are operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90P via the communications interface 55P.

The transceiver 65P facilitates the exchange of data and synchronizing signals between the tossable football peripheral device 100P and one or more portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′. The transceiver 65P is of a type compatible with the transceiver 65 provided for the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ (FIG. 2.) An internal antenna 85P is provided to transmit and receive radio frequency radiation in conjunction with the one or more portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′.

A sensor interface 70P is provided which allows one or more sensors to be operatively coupled to the communications infrastructure 90. The sensor interface 70P may monitor interactions with the player interface 60P.

Another function of the sensor interface 70P is to determine the various dynamic states in which the tossable football peripheral device 100P may be undergoing. For example, Static State (no movement of the football) may be determined as a result of sensor signals being below a certain threshold level. Other states that may be determined by the routines of the present invention based upon an assessment of sensor data includes a Carry State and a Throw State. The carry state is a state in which the football is being held by a user and moved about as a result of the user moving while holding the ball. The carry state may be determined as a result of one or more sensor signals being above a first threshold level and below a second threshold level. The carry state, for example, may be determined by an acceleration sensor value being above a minimum threshold level and below a maximum threshold level. The Throw State is a state in which the ball is being thrown by the user. The throw state includes a number of portions referred to herein as dynamic events. The throw state begins with a Dynamic Throw Event in which the user physically imparts the throwing motion upon the ball. When the ball leaves the user's hand, it enters a Dynamic In-Air Event during which time it is flying freely through the air. The throw state eventually ends in one of two ways—either it is caught, resulting in a Dynamic Catch Event, or it is missed resulting in a Dynamic Miss Event. Each of the dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, and dynamic miss event, may be identified by the routines of the present invention by assessing sensor data and determining if the time varying profile of sensor data meets certain conditions and/or posses certain characteristics. In some embodiments a pattern matching signal processing routine is used to identify if the sensor data is indicative of one of a dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, and/or dynamic miss event. In other embodiments threshold levels are used in processing the sensor data to determine if the ball is currently undergoing one of a dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic miss event, and/or dynamic catch event. In some embodiments the sequence of identified dynamic events are used, at least in part, to determine if the ball is currently undergoing one of a dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic miss event, and/or dynamic catch event. This is because a dynamic throw event always precedes a dynamic in-air event which always precedes one of a dynamic catch event or a dynamic miss event.

With respect to the Throw State of the football object, a number of parametric assessments may be performed to quantify the state and/or quality of the throw. In general such assessments involve assessing one or more of the events that make up a throw (i.e. a throw event, in-air event, catch event, or miss event), and/or quantifying the timing between two or more of such events. For example, a Time of Release time value may be determined by determining the end point in time of a dynamic throw event. Similarly a Time of Catch time value may be determined by assessing the start point in time of a dynamic catch event. Similarly a Time of Miss time value may be determined by assessing the start point in time of a dynamic miss event. Similarly a Flight Time value may be determined based upon the time duration between a detected Throw Event and one of a detected Catch Event or a detected Miss Event, the flight time being a determination of estimation of the total time the ball was in the air after being tossed by the user. In these ways the present invention may determine when a ball is static, carried, thrown, caught, and/or missed, based on signals received from the one or more sensors 75P. In addition the present invention may quantify each of the events such as the dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, and/or dynamic miss event based upon sensor readings and timing values. As will be described later in this document such assessments may include a determination and/or estimation of the speed at which the ball is thrown, the distance at which the ball is thrown, the maximum height the ball reaches during a throw, the quality of the spiral of a ball throw, the force and/or impulse level imparted by a user during a ball throw, the quality of a catch, and/or the air time achieved by a ball throw.

In a further example, the sensor interface 70P may be used to monitor a player's interaction with the one or more push-button switches 60A, 60B. Alternately, the push-button switches 60A, 60B may be augmented or replaced with capacitive sensing circuits (not shown) and/or other touch sensitive type circuitry (not shown) known in the relevant art. A separate interrupt circuit (not shown) may be incorporated into the hardware supporting the communications infrastructure 90, sensor interface 70P, player interface 60P, and/or an optional audio subsystem 80P.

The one or more sensors 75P operatively coupled to the sensor interface 70P include single and multi-axis accelerometers, a proximity antenna, an inclinometer, a momentary switch, a directional magnetometer, an altimeter, a timer and a GPS receiver. An integrating circuit (not shown) may be operatively coupled to the accelerometers and timing circuit 15P to provide velocity and distance information. The advantage of a GPS receiver is that the receiver provides actual position and velocity. Alternately, or in conjunction with the accelerometers, the GPS receiver may be used to determine geospatial location, displacement, velocity and altitude. Accelerometers are preferred where ruggedness and costs are of primary consideration.

Accelerometers are generally low in cost and may be configured or selected to determine instantaneous and/or average accelerations acting upon a tossable football object 200 in which it is incorporated into. For example an average acceleration may be determined for a Dynamic Throw Event by time averaging over the duration of the throw event. Based upon the average acceleration during the dynamic throw event (i.e. the time during which the user is imparting an impulse upon the ball) and the time duration of the dynamic throw event, the initial velocity of the ball as it leaves the user's hand may be determined and/or estimated. This initial velocity may be used to determine and/or estimate the distance the ball will traverse during the throw state as will be described in more detail later in this document.

In some embodiments a Dynamic Hike Event is determined indicative of a player lifting the ball from a Static State position of more than certain duration and lifting the ball into a Carry State. The dynamic hike event may thus be used by the present invention to determine that the user held the ball in a stance and hiked it at the beginning of a football play. In some embodiments of the present invention the dynamic hike event may be used to begin a gaming timer, the gaming timer being used to track accrued game play time and/or to track the time duration of a particular football play. In some embodiments of the present invention the user may press a button upon the ball to indicate that the ball is ready to be hiked and/or has just been hiked. In other embodiments the user presses a button or otherwise engages the user interface of his or her portable gaming computer to cause a hike or otherwise initiate a new play. In some advanced embodiments the dynamic hike event may be triggered by a voice recognition routine of the present invention configured to determine if a player utters the word “hike.” The voice recognition system is configured to use a microphone upon a portable gaming computer or the football peripheral.

The optional audio subsystem 80P and internal speaker 95P may be provided to supplement or replace the optional audio subsystem described for the portable gaming computers 100C. The audio subsystem 80P may further be programmed to emit periodic tones for locating a lost tossable football object 200. Alternately, or in conjunction therewith, the transceiver 65P may be programmed to periodically transmit to provide “fox-hunting” games and/or locating a hidden or lost tossable football object 200.

In another simple embodiment of the invention, the tossable football peripheral device 100P is an RFID chip encompassed within the tossable football object 200. In this simple embodiment of the invention, the microprocessor 5P, memory 10P, transceiver (i.e., transponder) 65P and communications infrastructure 90P are integrated into a single chip in which a wire loop antenna is connected.

In some embodiments, the RFID chip within the tossable football object 200 is passive, drawing all power from an appropriate RF signal emitted by the portable gaming computer 100C. In other embodiments the RFID chip is active, drawing power from a battery or other power source on board the tossable football object 200. The advantage of an active RFID chip is that it can be generally be detected from a longer range by a portable gaming computer 200C than a passive RFID chip.

In an RFID embodiment, gaming operation of the tossable football peripheral device 100P is provided by proximity to a properly encoded RF signal. For example, a portable gaming computer 100C equipped with RFID scanning capability may be configured to detect when an RFID chip equipped tossable football object 200 is present within a certain proximity of the portable gaming computer. Various other implementations of the RFID chip embodiment may utilize Doppler shift phenomenon to provide telemetry information as determined by the received transponder signal using the portable gaming computer 100C. In some embodiments the RFID chip may only be read by an RF scanning capability of the portable gaming computer 100C (i.e. data may be read from the memory of the RFID chip by the portable gaming computer 200C). In other embodiments the RFID chip may also be written to by an RF writing capability of the portable gaming computer 200C (i.e. data may be sent by the portable gaming computer and stored in the memory of the RFID chip.).

In all embodiments of the invention, placement of the electronics comprising the tossable football peripheral device 100P within the tossable football object 200 are generally placed close to the geometric center to prevent imbalances and erratic flight characteristics, and/or are sufficiently counterweighted to prevent imbalance.

Referring to FIG. 1B, a ball 200A a first form factor embodiment of the tossable football object 200 is depicted. In this embodiment of the invention, a traditional football ball 200A which has been modified to include the electronics comprising the tossable football peripheral device 100P is provided for outdoor play. The ball 200A may be tossed, caught, carried, kicked, hiked, and/or otherwise manipulated to produce the dynamic event(s) detectable by the one or more sensors 75P. For example, the ball 200A may be in the form of a resilient foam football shaped ball for playing football catch. In a simple embodiment of the invention, the one or more sensors 75P described above are accelerometers for detecting the acceleration of the ball 200A. The accelerometer may be a single axis accelerometer that detects acceleration along one degree of freedom or may be a multi-axis accelerometer that detects acceleration along multiple degrees of freedom. In single axis embodiments, the accelerometer is generally placed along the long axis that runs down the center of the length of the ball, passing through the center of mass, and is oriented such that it detects accelerations along the lengthwise axis. This axis is referred to herein as the Thrust Axis of the football because it is the primary direction that experiences accelerations when the football is properly thrown. The thrust axis sensor direction is labeled 201 in the figure. In this particular embodiment the thrust axis accelerometer is positioned substantially at the center of mass (C.M) of the football. In an alternate embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3C, the thrust axis accelerometer may be positioned along the Thrust Axis but located at an offset distance (F Offset) away from the (C.M). The benefits of such an arrangement will be described later with respect to FIG. 3C and FIG. 3D.

In some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 1B, the accelerometer is a three axis sensor that is positioned at the C.M. of the football detects acceleration in three orthogonal degrees of freedoms commonly referred to as X,Y, and Z. A benefit of positioning the sensors substantially at the C.M. is that they will not be affected by rotations of the football. In general, one of said three axes is aligned along the thrust axis and the other two are aligned orthogonal to the thrust axis. Thus if the Z axis sensor was aligned along the thrust axis, X and Y would be orthogonal to the thrust axis and orthogonal to each other.

In addition to the individual axis sensor readings, a single vector resultant of the multiple acceleration signals may be processed by the electronics of the present invention or each directional component may be individually processed. The acceleration information may be processed locally, partially processed locally or provided as raw information and sent over a wireless communications link to the portable gaming computer 100C during game play. In addition a resultant of just X and Y may also be computed, this resultant being referred to herein as the Radial Resultant. In some embodiments the Thrust axis acceleration may be used in combination with the Radial Resultant to determine the magnitude of a throw, the quality of a spiral, and to distinguish between a catch and a miss.

Note, a multi-axis accelerometer may be used to gain orientation information with respect to the earth by detecting direction of the acceleration due to gravity (which always points vertically downward) and can be sensed when the ball is being held by a user or is sitting on the ground. In some embodiments a GPS receiver may be used within the tossable football peripheral device 100P to provide even more detailed telemetry information. In some embodiments a magnetometer may be used to provide orientation information.

The portable gaming computer 100C, is programmed to process the received acceleration information to determine if the ball 200A has been thrown, caught, missed kicked, etc., based on the dynamic event's characteristic acceleration information. In addition The portable gaming computer 100C, is programmed to process the received acceleration information to determine if and when the ball is currently in the air (i.e. a throw state), currently being carried (i.e. a carry state), and/or currently substantially still (i.e. a static state). The portable gaming computer 100C, is programmed to process the received acceleration information to quantify and/or qualify certain aspects of a particular dynamic event, such as a throw, catch, or miss the ball 200A. For example, the data may be processed to determine the impulse magnitude of a dynamic throw event, the resulting initial velocity of a dynamic throw event, the initial angle of launch during a dynamic throw event, the flight time of a dynamic in-air event, the spiral quality of a dynamic in-air event, the distance traveled during a dynamic in-air event, the maximum height reached during a dynamic in-air event, the impulse magnitude of a dynamic catch event, and/or the impulse magnitude of a dynamic miss event. Such assessments may be performed by processing a time varying profile of collected accelerometer data. Examples of such collected accelerometer data, as captured by a thrust axis accelerometer within the football object, are shown for example in FIG. 3 and FIG. 3A.

Referring first to FIG. 3, a time varying acceleration signal 300 is shown as an acceleration versus time graph. The time varying acceleration signal 300 is indicative of what might be captured by a thrust axis accelerometer within tossable football object during a period including typical football throw. Because the thrust axis accelerometer is oriented along the lengthwise central axis of the football, it will report sudden sharp accelerations of the ball as it is thrusted forward by the user during a throw event. It will also report sharp decelerations when it is caught or missed. When the ball is flying through the air, however, it will report minimal acceleration values (especially if it is located substantially at the C.M. of the ball). In fact, the primary acceleration that will be detected by a centered Thrust Axis accelerometer during an in-air event will be accelerations imparted by air-resistance (that causes the ball to decelerate slightly during flight). Using such known characteristics of the thrust axis accelerations, the accelerations readings captured football throw may be processed to identify a dynamic throw event, a dynamic in-air event, a dynamic catch event, and a dynamic miss event. In addition, because a poor football throw (i.e. one in which the ball is not spiraling around the lengthwise axis of the ball but is rather tumbling erratically) will cause the thrust axis accelerometer to vary its orientation with respect to the direction of deceleration due to air resistance. This will cause the deceleration accelerations detected by the thrust axis accelerometer to include a time varying component when the ball is tumbling through the air during a dynamic in-air event. Thus the accelerations collected during dynamic in-air event can be processed by the present invention to distinguish the spiral quality of a throw. These assessments will be described in more detail with respect to FIG. 3 and FIG. 3A as follows. In addition, the acceleration characteristics of a poor tumbling throw can be accentuated by placing one or more accelerometers at a distance offset from the center of mass configuration as will be discussed with respect to FIGS. 3C and 3D.

As shown in FIG. 3, an acceleration sensor signal profile is plotted on a graph that represents acceleration versus time. During an initial time period referenced by period 301, the ball is being carried by the user. Because the act of carrying the ball imposes minimum accelerations upon the ball, the time varying signal during period 301 is shows small acceleration variations in a somewhat random manner caused by user jarring of the carried ball. Thus the routines of the present invention may process sensor signal and determine based upon the low level accelerations that are varying in a somewhat random manner that the ball is being carried about by the user during period 301. Then during period bracket 302, the acceleration values rapidly ramp up to a maximum value indicated at acceleration spike 303. This sudden sharp rise in acceleration along the thrust axis is indicative of a dynamic throw event. This is because when a user throws the ball, he or she imparts a sudden sharp acceleration along the thrust axis during the period of time between starting the throw event and releasing the ball from his or her hand. Thus the routines of present invention may process sensor signal and determine based upon the presence of a sudden sharp acceleration along the thrust axis that the user has performed a dynamic throw event, and that the dynamic throw event began at the left edge of period bracket 302 and was completed at the right edge of period bracket 302. With respect to the right edge of period bracket 302, we see the acceleration drop down sharply—this corresponds to the instant when the ball, which was being thrust forward by the user's arm, has instantly left the user's hand. At that moment in time it is no longer being accelerated forward anymore by user thrust. Instead, the primary acceleration upon the ball in the thrust axis becomes the negative acceleration due to air resistance (i.e. the decelerating of the ball due to air resistance in the thrust direction). Thus the point in time indicated by arrow (acceleration spike) 303 and/or the point in time indicated by the right side of period bracket 302 indicates the approximate time when the ball has left the user's hand. Thus the ball has entered an in-air dynamic event. It should be noted that the dynamic throw event may be determined not only by the profile of the acceleration signal being characteristic of a dynamic throw event, but also based upon the fact that the previously detected event was a carry event. Thus if it is known that the user was previously holding the ball, the detection of a sudden acceleration along the thrust axis can be used to indicate a dynamic throw event. On the other hand if the ball had previously been in the air, a sudden thrust axis acceleration (or deceleration), would indicate instead a dynamic catch event or a dynamic miss event.

Also, it should be noted that if additional accelerometer sensors are included that are not along the thrust axis but have a component in the vertical direction with respect to gravity, these sensors will report a component of (−g) when the ball is held by the user or resting on the ground. This is because the user (or the ground) is supporting the ball against the acceleration due to gravity. On the other hand when the ball is in flight it is in free fall and the acceleration readings do to gravity immediately drop to substantially 0. Thus in some embodiments of the present invention, the moment that the ball leaves the user's hand and enters free flight may be detected by the gravitationally caused component of acceleration immediately dropping to substantially 0. For example, in an embodiment of the present invention that includes a Thrust Axis accelerometer (Z) and two radial axis accelerometers (X and Y) at the C.M. as shown in FIG. 1B, the Radial Resultant will report (−g) when the ball is held by a user or is supported by the ground. When the ball is in the air, it will report substantially 0. In such an embodiment this drop in the Radial Resultant from (−g) to 0 can also or alternatively be used to detect the start of a dynamic in-air event. When a user catches the ball, the component will immediately cease being 0, and so the reading can be used to detect the end of the in air event as well.

Referring back to the thrust axis acceleration profile of FIG. 3, specifically to the time period defined by bracket 304 in the figure, we see that at the left edge of the bracket the ball has just left the user's hand. The accelerations detected in the thrust axis are now much lower and indicate deceleration. This is because the accelerations imparted upon the ball in the thrust axis during an in-air dynamic event are primarily the result of air resistance decelerating the ball. As shown in the figure, the deceleration level drops slightly as the ball continues to fly through the air. This is because air resistance is a function to ball velocity. Thus as the ball slows, the air resistance drops. It should be noted that the smooth acceleration profile between the left edge of bracket 304 and the right edge of bracket 304 indicates that the ball has been thrown with a quality spiral. In other words the lengthwise axis of the ball (i.e. the thrust axis) is remaining aligned with the direction of flight and thus aligned with the direction of air resistance. If the ball was tumbling in the air, the acceleration due to air resistance would be varying in a somewhat complex cyclic manner. An example of such an acceleration profile is shown with respect to bracket 304 in FIG. 3A. Note, the size of the time varying fluctuations are exaggerated to make them easy to see in FIG. 3A.

As shown in FIG. 3A, the acceleration during the dynamic in-air event of bracket 304 has a complex time varying component indicating that the thrust axis is varying its orientation with respect to air resistance. Thus such a complex profile during the dynamic in-air event bracket 304 may be processed by the present invention and used to determine that the spiral quality of the throw was poor. In fact the larger and/or faster the cyclic variations in acceleration present during a dynamic in-air event bracket 304, the poorer the assessment of the spiral quality of the football throw that is made by the routines of the present invention. In this way the present invention may assess the profile of the acceleration during bracket 304 as a means of quantifying spiral quality. FIG. 3 shows a profile at bracket 304 that indicates very good spiral quality. FIG. 3A shows a profile at bracket 304 that indicates very poor spiral quality.

Referring back to FIG. 3, we see that the in-air dynamic event bracket 304 terminates when the ball sharply decelerates at the right side of the bracket. This sharp deceleration is characteristic of the ball suddenly slowing due to being caught or due to being missed and thus hitting the ground or other surface. Because a catch generally imposes a less abrupt acceleration upon the ball than a miss (i.e. than the ball hitting the ground), the profile of the sudden deceleration of the ball (i.e. during bracket 305) may be used to distinguish between a catch and a miss. Regardless of that determination, the sudden deceleration at the right side of bracket 304 may be used by the processing routines of the present invention to determine that the in-air event has ceased, the ball having been caught or having hit something (i.e. the ground). Thus the time period between the left edge of bracket 304 and the right edge of bracket 304 may be determined by the routines of the present invention as the fight time of the toss. This flight time is represented as At and indicated by arrow (flight time) 310.

The elapsed time between the first (throw) dynamic event (period bracket 302) and the second (catch, drop or miss) dynamic event bracket 305 is computed by the routines of the present invention and used to indicate the approximate the flight time Δt 310 of the ball 200A. It is envisioned in an embodiment of the invention that a simple time integration circuit (not shown) may be provided and operatively coupled to the accelerometer and timing circuit 15P to determine the ball's 200A approximate velocity during the air-time period bracket 304. Once the approximate velocity of the ball 200A has been determined during the air-time period bracket 304, the flight time Δt 310 of the ball 200A may be used to calculate the overall distance the ball 200A has traveled by simply multiplying the X axis velocity V×209 (FIG. 2B) by the flight time Δt 310. Likewise, since velocity has magnitude and direction components, the relative bearing of the ball 200A to its point of origin may be determined by vector analysis. One method of performing such an assessment of velocity and distance traveled will be described in more detail as follows:

Referring back to period bracket 302 of FIG. 3, an acceleration profile is provided for the dynamic throw event. Thus profile indicates the profile of acceleration imparted by the user upon the ball in the primary thrust direction of the football. The routines of the present invention may determine a time-averaged acceleration imparted upon the ball by the user by integrating across the acceleration profile of period bracket 302 or otherwise performing a statistical averaging process. Either way an average acceleration may be determined for time period bracket 302 that represents the average thrust axis acceleration imparted by the user upon the ball over that time period. This average thrust axis acceleration is referred to herein as the Thrust_Average. Note, this profile may take a variety of forms depending upon the motion of the user's arm while imparting a throw. For example acceleration profile, period bracket 302, of FIG. 3D shows an alternate profile that is common of a football throw.

As is known in physics, acceleration is the change in velocity that occurs in an object over a period of time. Thus if we assume that the football was substantially at rest at the moment in time represented by the left edge of period bracket 302 and we know that it was accelerated in the thrust direction during period bracket 302 with an average acceleration of Thrust_Average, we can estimate the initial velocity of the ball in the thrust direction when it leaves the user's hand by simply multiplying Thrust_Average by the elapsed time of the dynamic throw event period bracket 302. If we define the elapsed time of the dynamic throw event as the time period between the left and right sides of period bracket 302 and represent it by a variable named Thrust_Time, we can produce the following equation for the initial velocity of the ball when it leaves the user's hand: Velocity_Initial=Thrust_Average*Thrust_Time Wherein the variable Velocity_Initial is the velocity of the football in the thrust axis direction at the moment it leaves the user's hand. This velocity will be aimed in a direction along the flight trajectory of the ball (usually some small angle above the horizontal). If we knew the angle of the trajectory we could then compute the horizontal component of the velocity. As will be described later in this document, the present invention may include routines by which the angle of the initial trajectory of the ball may be determined as a reasonable approximation. Before addressing that, there are a number of other quantities the routines of the present invention may compute with respect to the dynamic throw event.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the routines of the present invention may also compute the Maximum Force imparted by the user upon the ball in the thrust axis direction during the dynamic throw event. Using the Newtonian equation F=ma, the present invention may compute the Force_Maximum of the dynamic throw event as simply the maximum acceleration detected during period bracket 302 (i.e. the acceleration spike at 303) multiplied by the mass of the ball. This provides a Force_Maximum value that may be displayed to the user, informing the user of the maximum force he or she imparted upon the ball, or may be used in the computation of a gaming score increment for a current game. Either way, if we defined Acceleration_Maximum as the maximum acceleration detected during the dynamic throw event and we defined Football_Mass as the mass of the football, the following equation may be used to determine the max force: Force_Maximum=Acceleration_Maximum*Football_Mass In some embodiments of the present invention, the routines of the present invention may also compute the Average Force imparted by the user upon the ball in the thrust axis direction during the dynamic throw event. Using the Newtonian equation F=ma, the present invention may compute the Force_Average of the dynamic throw event as simply the average acceleration detected during period bracket 302 multiplied by the mass of the ball. This provides a Force_Average value that may be displayed to the user, informing the user of the average force he or she imparted upon the ball, or may be used in the computation of a gaming score increment for a current game. Either way, if we defined Thrust_Average as the average acceleration detected during the dynamic throw event and we defined Football_Mass as the mass of the football, the following equation may be used to determine the max force: Force_Average=Thrust_Average*Football_Mass

Once the routines of the present invention have determined the flight time (Δt) of the football toss and the initial velocity of the football (Velocity_Initial) in the thrust axis direction, Newtonian equations of projectile motion may be used to estimate the angle at which the ball must have been launched at the Velocity_Initial in order for it to remain in the air for the flight time (Δt) duration. Such an estimate may be performed with an approximation for air resistance or by ignoring air resistance. Either way a reasonable approximation may be made using Newtonian equations for projectile motion. When ignoring air resistance, the equations of projectile motion yield the following approximation for the angle at which the ball leaves the user's hand (measured as the angle of the thrust axis with respect to the horizontal): Sin(Θ)=(gΔt)/(2 Velocity_Initial)

Thus if the routines of the present invention solve this equation for (Θ), the routines will derive a reasonable approximation for the angle at which the ball was thrown with respect to the horizontal, so long as it is a positive angle (i.e. so long as the football was not intentionally grounded).

Once the routines of the present invention determine the approximate angle (Θ) at which the ball was launched by the user during the dynamic throw event, the routines of the present invention may compute the component of the Velocity_Initial that is in the horizontal direction. This may be performed with the basic vector equation: Velocity_Initial_Horizonal=Velocity_Initial Cos (Θ)

Once the routines of the present invention determine the horizontal component of the initial throw velocity, the routines of the present invention may compute an approximation for the total distance traveled by the ball. This may be computed using an estimation for air resistance or by ignoring air resistance. Either way you get a reasonable approximation for the purposes of gaming. Ignoring air resistance, the computation is performed using the following simple equation. Total_Horizonal_Throw_Distance=Velocity_Initial_Horizontal*Δt

Wherein the value Total_Horizonal_Throw_Distance is an approximation for the total distance that the ball traveled between being launched by the user and being caught by the user (or hitting the ground). Note, to get a slightly more accurate calculation the equations may be modified to consider air resistance and/or to consider the standing height of the user, but these complexities are not necessary to get a reasonable approximation for gaming purposes. Thus the present invention may use the accelerometer profile as shown in FIG. 3, identify the dynamic throw event and the dynamic catch event (or dynamic miss event), and by determining time varying acceleration characteristics and timing characteristics, may determine a reasonable estimate for the total horizontal distance the ball was thrown by the user.

In the example above, the horizontal throw distance is computed without air resistance. In reality the distance will be a small amount less than that computed amount. To account for air resistance, computations using coefficients of air resistance may be used. Alternatively an adjustment factor may be multiplied by the horizontal distance, for example an Air_Resistance_Factor may be set, for example, to 94%. Using this factor an adjusted total horizontal throw distance may be computed as follows: Adjusted_Horizontal_Distance=Air_Resistance_Factor*Total_Horizontal Throw_Distance

In the above example the Air_Resistance_Factor is a constant. In reality the air resistance will be less for a quality throw (a good spiral) versus a poor throw in which the football is tumbling end-over-end. As described previously, the acceleration profile data may be assessed by the routines of the present invention to determine the quality of the throw, ranging from a good spiral to an end-over-end tumble. If it is determined that a good spiral was achieved in the throw, a higher Air_Resistance_Factor may be used, for example, 97%. Alternatively if it is determined that a poor spiral was a achieved (i.e. a tumbling throw) a lower Air_Resistance_Factor may be used, for example 89%.

The present invention may also estimate the maximum height achieved by the ball as thrown by the user. This can be computed by the present invention using Newtonian equations for motion within a gravitational field. Again the computations can be performed with or without consideration of air resistance. If air resistance is ignored the computation will yield a larger height than is actually achieved but that height still represents a reasonable approximation for gaming purposes. Also, an adjustment factor such as the Air_Resistance_Factor may also be multiplied by a computed height to make some accounting of air resistance effects. Ignoring air resistance, the maximum height that the ball reaches may be determined using the following equation: Max_Height=−0.5*g*(Δt/2)² In the above equation, g is the acceleration due to gravity. In metric units it is generally approximated as 9.81 meters per second squared.

Thus the present invention may be configured to use a single axis accelerometer oriented along the thrust axis to collect thrust access acceleration data. Such acceleration data may be used to determine if the football is in a static state, catch state, or throw state. If the ball is in a throw state, the acceleration data may be further assessed to determine and/or quantify the dynamic aspects of a throw state including a dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, and/or dynamic miss event. By assessing such events in both magnitude and timing, throw characteristics may be determined including the flight time, maximum throw height, maximum throw distance, initial throw velocity, angle of throw, and quality of the spiral of the throw. Thus the present invention can employ a single axis accelerometer to determine and/or estimate a wide variety of throw data and use that data, at least in part, to compute a gaming score.

The sensor and other electronics within the ball, even when placed along the thrust axis, could create an imbalance such that the center of mass of the ball is moved away from the geometric center. This could cause the ball to wobble in the air. To prevent such an unbalanced situation from occurring, the electronics comprising the gaming peripheral device are generally located at the center of the ball 200B and/or are sufficiently counterweighted to ensure the center of mass of the system is substantially located at the geometric of the ball. In some such embodiments of the invention, the dynamic event sensor is co-located in the geometric center with the electronics comprising the gaming peripheral device.

In an alternate embodiment, the ball 200A may incorporate the functionality of a portable gaming computer 100C within, thereby not requiring a communication link to an external computer. In such an embodiment, as well as in the previous embodiments, the ball 200A may include the display 25P and/or light emitting diodes, and/or the audio subsystem 80P, 95P for outputting information to one or more game players.

Referring next to FIG. 3B, we see a time vary sensor signal profile graphed as thrust acceleration data versus time. This profile shows an example that differs from FIG. 3B in that in this case the ball was not caught by a player but instead was missed. As described previously, the dynamic miss event may be determined by the routines of the present invention and distinguished from a dynamic catch event in a number of inventive ways. First, the dynamic miss event may be determined and distinguished from a dynamic catch event by the presence of a sudden acceleration spike (either in the positive or negative direction) that exceeds a certain threshold. This is because the acceleration spike indicative of a dynamic miss event is generally larger than the acceleration spike indicative of a dynamic catch event (for a given magnitude throw). This is because a human catcher generally cradles the ball and provides some acceleration cushioning while a dynamic miss event has the ball hitting a surface more abruptly such as the ground or other object. Thus as shown in FIG. 3A the dynamic miss event may be detected at time bracket 305 by the routines of the present invention as a result of the sudden acceleration spike at 305 being present, said acceleration spike having a magnitude that exceeds a certain threshold level and/or a time varying profile that meets certain characteristic requirements.

In addition, a dynamic miss event may be determined and distinguished from a dynamic catch event by virtue of how the time varying acceleration signal varies immediately after the detected impact event. Thus by processing the time varying acceleration signal during time period 306, the routines of the present invention may determine if the acceleration spike at 305 was a catch or a miss. This is because after a catch event a user will be holding the ball within his or her hands or arms. During such a time there will be accelerations imposed upon the ball but they will be of a low magnitude and will have relatively slow and low magnitude time varying characteristics. On the other hand, after a miss event the ball will hit the ground (or other surface) and bounce wildly with rapid directional changes as it rolls. This is particular true of football objects that are of an irregular shape, for footballs bounce wildly in erratic and rapid pulses. Thus if the acceleration profile at 306 is detected to have a prominent acceleration values in both magnitude and time varying characteristics, it may be determined by the routines of the present invention to indicate that the ball was missed by the user rather than caught. Thus as a means of example, time varying profile of FIG. 3B within time period 306 is shown as an example acceleration profile indicative of a dynamic miss event while the time varying profile of FIG. 3A within time period 306 is shown as an example acceleration profile indicative of a dynamic catch event. Thus the present invention may distinguish a dynamic miss event from a dynamic catch event based upon the magnitude and/or time varying characteristics of the acceleration profile from sensor during the time period immediately following the initial acceleration spike of the catch or the miss (i.e. time period 306). Furthermore a dynamic miss event may be determined by the magnitude of the accelerations being above a certain threshold and/or the time varying characteristic varying at a rate that is above a certain threshold an/do the time varying characteristics varying in a manner that is sufficiently erratic.

It should be noted with respect to FIG. 3, FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3D that the sense of the acceleration signals may be flipped in some embodiments and/or situations. This is because the thrust axis accelerometer used in such examples may be oriented such that positive acceleration is aimed in the positive direction of ball motion OR may be aimed in the opposite direction to ball motion. This may be the result of which of the two possible ways the user happens to be holding the football ball when thrown in the thrust direction.

It should be noted that in some embodiments of the present invention a dynamic kick event may be detected and distinguished from a dynamic throw event. Because a kick imparts higher accelerations upon the ball and/or because a kick imparts forces upon the ball over a much shorter period of time than a throw, the time varying acceleration profile at period bracket 302 may be used by the routines of the present invention to distinguish a kick from a throw. For example, if the acceleration spike 303 of the event is greater than a certain magnitude level, it may be determined to be a kick rather than a throw. Also if the time period over which the ball was accelerated is below a certain level, it may be determined to be a kick rather than a throw. In addition if the time varying profile of the air-time is sufficiently time varying (i.e. shows sufficient wobble in the air), the routines of the present invention may determine that the motion event was a kick rather than a throw. In this way a user may punt the football and have the height, distance, velocity, and/or other parameters of the ball characterized.

For embodiments that employ a multi-axis accelerometer, the kick may be further distinguished from a throw based upon which axis accelerometer detects the greatest acceleration spike. While a throw will detected the highest acceleration upon the thrust axis accelerometer, a punt or other kick will generally detect the greatest acceleration spike upon one of the radial accelerometers. Thus referring back to FIG. 1A, if the largest acceleration spike is detected upon the X or Y accelerometer, it may be determined by the routines of the present invention that the ball was kicked whereas if the largest acceleration spike is detected upon the thrust axis accelerometer Z, it may be determined that the ball was thrown. Once the ball is kicked, the same or similar methods as described above may be used to determine if it was caught or missed by another player. Also, flight time may be determined as described above. Based at least upon the flight time, a score may be define and added to a running score of the players based upon the magnitude of the kick, the air time of the kick, and/or the success or failure of the catch.

Referring to FIG. 3C an alternate sensor placement configuration is shown in which a thrust axis accelerometer is placed along the lengthwise axis of the football, but is configured such that it is an offset distance (F Offset 290) away from the center of mass 280 of the football object. As shown in the figure, the football object has a lengthwise axis and a radial axis 207 that pass through the center of mass 280 of the football. There is also a second radial axis (not shown) that passes through the center of mass 280 in a direction that is directly out of the page. In general, a well thrown football will spin (i.e. spiral) around the lengthwise axis during flight as shown by the spiral arrow 292. Because the thrust axis accelerometer is placed along this axis and oriented as shown, it will read no accelerations as a result of spiral motion. This is because there is no radial distance between the accelerometer and the axis of spiral spin. On the other hand, a poorly thrown football will spin (i.e. tumble) around a radial axis of the football, such as the radial axis passing out of the page through the center of mass 280. This tumble motion, represented by tumble arrow 294, will induce accelerations in the thrust axis accelerometer as a result of its offset placement from the center of mass 280. The magnitude of these accelerations, often referred to as centripetal accelerations, will be a function of the rate of spin (tumble) around the radial axis and the Offset Distance (290). Because the tumble will be at a mostly constant rate (with some minor slowing during flight due to air resistance), the acceleration induced by tumble in an offset thrust axis sensor value will be a somewhat constant value, the larger the value the faster the tumble. Thus a well thrown football will induce very little accelerations in the thrust axis sensor during flight (other than a small amount due to air resistance) and a poorly thrown football will induce significant centripetal accelerations in the thrust axis sensor during flight. These differences can be used by the present invention to distinguish between a well thrown football (good spiral) and a poorly thrown football (high tumble) as well as quantify the degree of tumble.

An example sensor profile collected from an offset thrust axis sensor is shown with respect to FIG. 3D. As shown in the figure, the time period at bracket 304 is the dynamic in-air event. Thus the ball is in the air during this time. If the ball was thrown with a good spiral, the offset thrust axis accelerometer will report a very small negative value during this time as shown by dotted profile 308, the small negative value due to the deceleration due to air resistance. If the ball was thrown with a poor spiral (i.e. with tumble), the offset thrust axis sensor will report a larger value (either positive or negative depending upon the sense of the sensor axis), the magnitude of the reading being dependent upon the rate of the tumble. The higher the rate of the tumble, the larger the magnitude of the acceleration. Thus as shown by line 309 a large acceleration magnitude is detected during the dynamic in-air event as a result of ball tumble. This value is detected by the routines of the present invention to determine that the ball is tumbling, the larger the value to worse the tumble. In addition time varying characteristics of other sensor readings may be used to determine the rate of tumble as described previously.

Referring now to FIG. 2, an exemplary embodiment of the invention is depicted where a game of football catch is played. A first player 210 throws a tossable football object to a second player 215. The tossable football peripheral device 100P monitors one or more of the dynamic motion events of the tossable football object. In a common embodiment this is achieved by monitoring the thrust axis acceleration of the football object as it is thrown, flies through the air, and is either caught or missed, using one or more sensors 75P. Based upon the time varying profile of the thrust axis acceleration, dynamic events may be identified by the routines of the present invention, including a dynamic throw event and one a dynamic catch event or a dynamic miss event. In addition timing information may be identified, such as the flight time of the throw (i.e. the elapsed time between the dynamic throw event and one of the dynamic catch event or the dynamic miss event. By dividing this time value in half, the routines of the present invention may estimate the time at which the ball reaches the highest point in its trajectory. This point is shown as the drawn location of the football in FIG. 2.

During the throw, the internal microprocessor 5P processes the sensor signals and transmits 203, 203′ a time varying representation of the sensor signals and/or the detected dynamics events and/or resulting telemetry to the portable gaming computer 100C, 100C′ held by the players 210, 215. The figure shows the players holding the portable computing device (i.e. portable gaming device) in their hands, although in common embodiments the portable computing computers 100C and 100C′ are affixed to a belt or otherwise worn. An example of the devices being worn is shown in FIG. 2A.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ may be in direct wireless communications with each other to orchestrate game play and exchange information such as the current number of throws, number of catches, number of drops, flight time Δt 310 achieved, spiral quality achieved, catch impact level, distance traveled, velocity of the ball, peak altitude, peak acceleration, etc. In addition, gaming scores, accrued gaming yardage, accrued gaming play time, gaming status announcements, number of outs, and/or other gaming information may be exchanged between 100C and 100C′ over wireless communication link 204.

The two portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ in the example provided above may independently track game action, or may be synchronously operated using the wireless communication link 204 to ensure both units are coordinated in how the game is being orchestrated and scored. In another embodiment of the invention, the tossable football peripheral device 100P is programmed to allow the 203, 203′, 204 receiving of configuration data from either or both of the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′.

The invention is intended to be sufficiently flexible to allow multiple tossable gaming peripheral devices 100P to be simultaneously interfaced to one or more portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ and visa versa. This arrangement allows for gaming paradigms that employ multiple balls at the same time. When multiple tossable gaming peripheral devices 100P are used; each peripheral device may be assigned a unique peripheral ID for identification and communication with a portable gaming computer 100C and/or other tossable gaming peripheral devices 100P in the field of play.

For example, each tossable gaming 200 may be encoded with a unique ID number or code that is stored in a memory local to the peripheral. The portable gaming computers 100C of the present invention may then detect and process the unique identifiers stored within each of a plurality of tossable gaming peripheral devices 100P and thereby distinguish between them during game play.

Likewise, when multiple players 210, 215 are playing simultaneously; each player may be assigned a unique player ID for identification and communication with the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ and/or the other players and/or with each portable gaming peripheral.

Another embodiment of the invention is depicted in FIG. 2A. In this embodiment of the invention, the tossable football peripheral device 100P includes an RFID chip as part of electronics encompassed in the tossable football object. An RFID transceiver 65 is encompassed within and/or interfaced to the portable gaming computer 100C and 100C′. The portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ are thereby configured to access the RFID chip when the chip is within certain proximity of each portable gaming computer 100C′, 100C′. In this exemplary embodiment, the RFID chip transponds when it is within the RF field 205 generated by the first players' 210 portable gaming computer 100C, but does not transpond when outside the RF field 205. Similarly, the RFID chip transponds when it is within the RF field 205′ generated by the second players' 215 portable gaming computer 100C′, but does not transpond when outside the RF field 205′. In this way, each portable gaming computer may be configured in hardware and software detect whether or not the tossable football peripheral device 100P is currently proximal to the respective player of that portable gaming device.

Thus during a first duration in time, player 210 may be holding the ball 200A and preparing to throw it. During this duration, player 210's possession of the ball 200A is detected by software executing in the portable gaming computer 100C of the present invention as a result of the RFID chip transponding over the duration (i.e. sending data to portable gaming computer 100C). Then at some point in time, player 210 throws the ball 200A. Almost immediately upon being thrown, the ball 200A leaves the RF field 205 and ceases to transpond (i.e. ceases to send data to portable gaming computer 100C). The loss of the transponder signal is used by portable gaming computer 100C as an indication that the ball 200A was thrown for it is no longer proximal to player 210.

The loss of the transponder signal causes a throw counter to increment in the first players' 210 portable gaming computer 100C, indicating that the football has been thrown. When the football enters the proximity of the RF field 205′ generated by the second players' 215 portable gaming computer 100C′, the transponder associated with the RFID chip is again actuated. The receipt of the transponder signal causes a catch counter to increment in the second players' 215 portable gaming computer 100C′, indicating that the football has been caught. The process is repeated for each consecutive throw/catch cycle. At the same time, a portable gaming computer 100,100C may communicate timing data over wireless communication link 204 such that the flight time between the detected throw and the detected catch may be determined by one or both of the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′.

In some embodiments a catch is determined as a result of the received transponder signal being detected for more than a certain threshold amount of time. This is because a missed ball 200A will sometimes pass through the RF field 205, 205′ and then hit the ground but a caught ball 200A will be held proximal to the player 210, 215 for more than the threshold amount of time. Thus a catch can be distinguished from a miss by the present invention as a result of detecting a received transponder signal for more than a threshold amount of time. A threshold of 2500 to 3500 milliseconds is often effective. The threshold is generally subtracted from the computed flight time Δt 310 such that it is not artificially added to the flight time Δt 310 as a result of the threshold limit process.

Also a miss may be determined if the flight time reaches a value that exceeds a certain maximum flight time threshold level without the ball passing through the RF field of the catching player (or without a dynamic catch event being otherwise detected by sensor). The maximum flight time threshold level may be set to a value such that it is generally impossible for a player to toss the ball such that it will remain airborne for that amount of time without hitting the ground. Such a value may be set to, for example, 20 seconds, for common game players. The value may also be set to a higher or lower value depending upon the type of ball and/or the age of the players involved.

Since each RFID chip provides a unique identification code, the 215 portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ may be programmed to only respond to a recognized tossable football peripheral device 100P. In a further embodiment of the invention, the first and second player's 210, 215 portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ are in processing communications over a wireless communication link 204.

Referring again to FIG. 2A, the portable gaming computer 100C is attached to a belt of the player 210 and emits an RF field 205 centered about the portable gaming computer 100C. The RF field 205 would have a radius, for example, of approximately 1 meter. An approximately 1 meter RF field would allow most players of average size to maintain their hands, even with arms extended within the RF field 205. Thus, if a ball 200A is held by the player, the portable gaming computer 100C will detect the ball 200A.

When a player tosses the ball, the transponder signal is lost at the first portable gaming computer 100C. When the transponder signal is detected by the other portable gaming computer 100C′, the ball 200A may be assumed to have been caught by the second player 215. If the ball 200A is momentarily detected but is again lost, the ball 200A may be assumed to have been dropped or missed. Alternately, if the ball 200A is not seen for more than a certain amount of time it may be assumed that the ball 200A was missed entirely. The wireless communication link 204 may be used to determine whether the football has been caught or dropped based on elapsed time measurements.

In some embodiments the RFID technology may be used in combination with the accelerometer technology described previously. In such embodiments the accelerometer sensor may be used to determine dynamic throw and catch and miss events and quantify each, while the RFID technology may be used to determine which player performed the dynamic throw event and/or performed the dynamic catch event. This is particularly useful for embodiments that include more than two players. Note, in some embodiments the RFID scanner of the player may be located at or near or upon his or her wrist or hand. In such embodiments the range of the RFID field may be much smaller than shown in FIG. 2A. Also it should be noted that in some embodiments the RFID scanner may be located within the football object and the RFID tags may be located upon the players.

Accrued Yardage—in some embodiments of the present invention the routines compute the distance of each throw and sum them over a set of repeated throws to determine an accrued yardage achieved by the player or players. This accrued yardage may be displayed to the user directly or as part of a score that uses accrued yardage in part. For embodiments that employ a GPS sensor within the ball object, accurate measures of ball yardage may be determined and accrued. In addition when GPS sensors are employed yardage may also be determined and stored for running events. In addition when GPS sensors are employed, the yardage may be determined in a particular direction, such as long the direction of the field that counts as advanced yardage within traditional football play. Thus when GPS sensors are employed, the routines of the present invention may determine the yardage achieved in the advancement direction along the football field by a given throw, kick, or carry of the players. In addition the routines of the present invention may accrue yardage over a series of plays to determine if a first down was made within the rules of standard football. In addition, if GPS sensors are used it may be determine if a player or players successfully move the ball into a target end zone of the field within the rules of standard football, thereby scoring a touch down. In addition, if the portable gaming computers 100C, 100C′ are suitably equipped with GPS receivers 70 or other sensors 75C, or the distance between the players is known, additional and/or more accurate information may be determined such as velocity of the ball, peak altitude, peak acceleration, flight time, etc.

The calculation of the ball flight parameters based upon accelerometer readings is described further in FIG. 2B. The football used in the previous examples is assumed to follow Newton's laws of projectile motion where the maximum height H 206′ a projectile will achieve is the product of the projectile's initial vertical velocity Vzi 208 and flight time t 211 less the product of ½ the gravitational constant g 212, (9.8 m/sec²) and the square of the flight time t 211 as provided in the equation 206 shown below. H=Vzi*t−½*g*(t)²

A football thrown from one player 210 to another 215 follows a parabolic trajectory due to the influence of gravity pulling the football back to earth. The parabolic trajectory 202,202′ includes both a vertical Vz 208 and horizontal Vx 209 component. When the vertical component Vz 208′ reaches zero (0) due to the earth's gravitation attraction, the football has reached its maximum height and the basic projection motion equation is reduced to the equation 206′ shown below. H=−½*g*(t/2)² Thus, the flight time t 211 is divided in half to determine the maximum height H 206′.

Referring to FIG. 4, a first process is depicted for providing a tossable football peripheral device 100P embodiment of the invention. The process is initiated 400 by providing 410 a first microprocessor programmed to process and transmit sensor signals 415; coupling 420 a dynamic event sensor, for example at least a thrust axis accelerometer, to the first microprocessor; coupling 430 a first wireless transceiver to the first microprocessor; and, encompassing 440 the first microprocessor, dynamic event sensor and first transceiver 65P in a tossable football object 200; where the tossable gaming object is a ball 200A, thus completing the first process 490.

In conjunction with or in addition thereto, a second process is depicted for providing a portable gaming computer 100C embodiment of the invention.

The process continues from the first process by providing 450 a second microprocessor programmed to orchestrate game play 455, process sensor signals transceived 435 from the first microprocessor and process player interface signals 475 received from a player interface 60; coupling 460 a second wireless transceiver to the second microprocessor; coupling 470 a player interface 60 to the second microprocessor; and, encompassing the second microprocessor, second wireless transceiver and player interface 60 in a small portable case; where the case may be wearable or hand-carried 485; thus completing the second process.

Using such a hardware configuration, the time varying nature of said sensor signal is processed to characterize a throw of said football object. In many such embodiments an elapsed time value is determined between a detected throw dynamic event and a detected catch dynamic event. Such a time value is referred to herein as a flight time value. In some embodiments of the present invention, the flight time value is used to determine and/or estimate the maximum height of the football trajectory between said detected throw dynamic event and said dynamic catch dynamic event. In some embodiments of the present invention the flight time value is used, at least in part, to determine and/or estimate the distance of the football trajectory between said detected throw dynamic event and said dynamic catch dynamic event. In some embodiments of the present invention the flight time value is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to an accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments of the present invention a portion of the sensor signals that of a dynamic throw event is further processed to determine and/or estimate an initial velocity at which the ball leaves the throwers hand. In some such embodiments the initial velocity is determined at least in part by determining an average acceleration of the dynamic throw event and a throw time duration of the dynamic throw event, said throw time duration being the approximate time duration from the detected start of the throw event (i.e. when the ball starts accelerating under propulsion of a user's throw) to the detected completion of the throw event (i.e. when the ball leaves the user's hand and thus stops accelerating under the propulsion of the user's hand). In some such embodiments the initial velocity is determined at least in part by multiplying said average acceleration of the dynamic throw event by said throw time duration of the dynamic throw event. In some such embodiments the sensor is an accelerometer that reports a time varying profile of acceleration values during said dynamic throw event. In some embodiments the initial velocity is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments of the present invention a toss distance value is computed and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and dynamic catch event, used in combination with said initial velocity value. In some such embodiments a horizontal component of said initial velocity value is used based upon an angle value for said initial velocity. In some embodiments the toss distance is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments of the present invention a toss distance value is computed. and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and dynamic catch event, used in combination with at least one acceleration value for the dynamic throw event. In some such embodiments the at least one acceleration value is an average acceleration value for said dynamic throw event. In some embodiments the toss distance is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments of the present invention a toss height value is computed and/or estimated, at least in part, based upon said flight time value computed between a dynamic throw event and a dynamic catch event. In some such embodiments the toss height value is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some embodiments the time varying sensor data of a dynamic in-air event is processed to determine the spiral quality of the flight of the football, the spiral quality being how well the user threw the football such that it is rotating primarily about the long axis. In some such embodiments the time varying profile of said sensor signal data is assessed between said throw event and said catch event. In some such embodiments the time varying magnitude of an acceleration value is used, at least in part, to determine the quality of the spiral of the throw of the football. In some such embodiments the quality of the spiral of the throw of the football is used, at least in part, to determine a score increment to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players.

In some such embodiments of the present invention, a number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs are determined by the software of the present invention. This is achieved by determining dynamic throw events and dynamic catch events as described previously. In general, the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs are determined by counting the number of times the routines of the present invention detect dynamic throw events followed by dynamic catch events without the detection of dynamic miss events. Thus as defined herein, the detection of a dynamic catch event directly following a dynamic throw event without an intervening dynamic miss event is a throw-catch pair. In some embodiments a throw-catch pair is also such that the elapsed time between the dynamic catch event and the dynamic throw event is less than a certain maximum time threashold. In some embodiments a throw-catch pair is also such that a dynamic in-air event must be detected between the dynamic throw event and the dynamic catch event. In some such embodiments only the dynamic in-air event may be detected between the dynamic throw event and they dynamic catch event. In this way the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs represents the number of times the player successfully throw the football back and forth to each other, without anyone missing or dropping the ball. In some embodiments the accrued distance is also computed for a particular number of consecutive throw-catch pairs, the accrued distance being the total estimated distance traveled of the football during the period of consecutive throw-catch pairs (i.e. during the time when the ball was not dropped).

In some embodiments the number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs is used, at least in part, to determine a score and/or a score increment to be added to the accruing score of a current player or players. In some embodiments one or more processors are adapted to run timing routines in order to determine an approximate time interval between a throw event and a subsequent catch event that ensues from the throw event (a throw-catch pair). A subsequent catch event that ensues from a throw event indicates that no other throw or catch events have occurred in the interim between the catch event and the throw event. In some such embodiments the determined flight time, toss distance, toss height, and/or toss spiral quality is used in combination with the number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs to determine a score amount to be added to the accruing score associated with a current player or players. In some such embodiments, the score is increased by a larger amount based upon (a) a larger determined toss distance, (b) a higher of determined toss height, (c) a higher toss spiral quality (d) a longer flight time, and/or any combination of the aforementioned, for any one or more of the throw-catch pairs in series of consecutive throw-catch pairs. In this way players may engage in a football toss game and be awarded computer moderated scores based upon one or more combinations of the number of consecutive successful throw-catch pairs, the distance of each successful toss-catch pair, the height of each successful toss-catch pair, the flight time of each successful toss-catch pair, and/or the spiral quality of each successful toss-catch pair.

In addition to displaying the current game score to the player or players of the football toss game, the portable gaming device(s) of the present invention may also display to the users the current number of consecutive successful toss-catch pairs, the maximum distance in a successful toss-catch pair thus far in the gaming session, the maximum height of a successful toss-catch pair thus far in the gaming session, the current air-time of a successful toss-catch pair thus far in the gaming session, and/or the maximum initial velocity of a successful toss-catch pair thus far in the gaming session.

In some embodiments of the present invention the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports in a verbal form related to a given football toss and/or catch. The audio reports may include descriptive phrases that are output dependent upon an assessment of each dynamic throw event, dynamic in-air event, dynamic catch event, dynamic miss event, dynamic kick event, and/or dynamic hike event. The output audio reports may be produced using voice synthesis routines that generate human voice sounds through algorithmic means known the to current art and/or through voice synthesis routines that generate human voice by accessing digitized voice samples from memory and playing the voice samples, and/or a combination of both methods.

In some such embodiments, an assessment by the routines of the present invention that a dynamic throw event has occurred and that it meets certain parameters, may be used to trigger the output of one or more audible phrases to one or more users through one or more portable gaming computers of the present invention. For example in some embodiments of the present invention, upon determining that a dynamic throw event has occurred and that the sensor profile for the dynamic throw events exceeds certain magnitude thresholds and/or meets certain profile characteristics, the present invention will to output an audible phrase such as “good throw” or “good toss” or “nice pass”. In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic throw event, for example the sound of a rocket taking off.

In some such embodiments, the routines assess if a dynamic catch event has occurred and if it meets certain parameters. If so, the routines trigger the output of one or more audible phrases to one or more users. In some such embodiments of the present invention, upon determining that a dynamic catch event has occurred and that the sensor profile for the dynamic catch events that meets certain parameters, for example being within certain magnitude limits, the present invention will output an audible phrase such as “good catch” or “good hands” or “nice grab” or “touchdown!”. In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic catch event, for example the sound of a stadium crowd cheering or the sound of an impact or explosion.

In some such embodiments, an assessment of a dynamic in-air event is made to determine if the throw was made with good spiral quality. If so, the present invention will output a relevant audible phrase to one or more users. In one such embodiment of the present invention, when it is determined from the time varying sensor that a dynamic in-air event has occurred with characteristics indicative of a good spiral throw, the routines are configured to output an audible phrase the such as “good spiral” to the user who threw the ball through the portable gaming computer of that user. In some such embodiments the routines of the present invention will output sound effects such as a swooshing sound during the execution of a good spiral throw. Alternatively if the in air event shows characteristics of a wobbly or tumbling throw, the routines may output a phrase such as “wobble” or “tumble” or a sound that conjures such a motion.

In some embodiments the detection of a dynamic miss event will cause the present invention to output an audible phrase such as “incomplete” and/or “miss” or “ouch.” In some such embodiments sound effects are output upon assessment of a dynamic miss event, for example the sound of a bomb exploding. In some such embodiments the sound effect may be dependent upon the rolling and/or bouncing motion detected in the miss event, for example extending for a duration during which the ball rolls or bounces and/or being triggered off some or more of the detected bounces.

In some embodiments, the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports upon the successful completion of a toss-catch pair the football, the audio report such as “completion!” In some such embodiments the audio report may also or alternatively include a verbal indication and/or estimation of the total flight time, throw distance, and/or throw height of the football. For example, in some such embodiments the audio report upon a successful catch of the football may be an audible announcement of the number of yards the football is estimated to have traveled prior to being caught. Such an announcement for a football estimated to have been thrown 35 yards, would be for example, the audible phrase “completion, thirty-five yards!” or in some embodiments just “thirty-five yards!”

In some embodiments, the portable gaming device is operative to output audio reports during the in-air portion of a toss of the football. In some such embodiments the audio reports include a determined and/or estimated distance thus far traveled by the football during the throw. In some such embodiments the audio report may be an audible announcement of the number of yards (total or in the horizontal direction) the football is estimated to have traveled thus far in the toss trajectory. In such some embodiments the announcements are made in regular intervals, for example every ten yards. In some such embodiments sound effects are output during the flight time, for example the sound of a rocket approaching.

In some embodiments of the present invention, the portable gaming device is configured to output an audio report after a successful catch event, the audio report being indicative of the number of consecutive successful toss-catch pairs achieved thus far in a current game or portion of a current game. For example, upon the forth consecutive successful toss-catch pair detected by the routines of the present invention, the portable gaming device may be configured to output the audible verbal report “four”. Similarly, upon the fifth consecutive successful toss-catch pair detected by the routines of the present invention, the portable gaming device may be configured to output the audible verbal report “five”, etc. In this way the players get an update of the toss-catch pair count upon each consecutive successful catch.

In some embodiments, each player is equipped with a portable gaming computer, each of said plurality of portable gaming devices being in wireless communication with the football peripheral device and/or with another of said portable gaming computers. In this way, visual and/or audio status updates and/or scoring updates may be individually presented to each player participating in the computer moderated football catch game by his or her own portable gaming device.

In some embodiments of the present invention, a pair of players engaged in a football catch game are awarded a combined score based upon the success of their paired tossing and catching activities. In other embodiments each player in a pair of players engaged in a football catch game are awarded individual scores based upon one or more of the distance of their throws, the flight time of their throws, the spin quality of their throws, the height of their throws, and/or an assessment of their catches. In some such embodiments, the scores of each player maintained individually based upon the sequential order of their tosses, assuming they take repeated turns throwing the ball to the other. In this way, for example, a first thrower is assigned a first score that accrues each time it is his or her turn to throw. This is differentiated from a second thrower who is assigned a second score that accrues each time it is his turn to throw. In some embodiments both a joint score and individual scores are both maintained and displayed by the gaming software of the present invention. For embodiment in which each player uses his or her own portable gaming device, the joint score and/or the individual scores may be maintained simultaneously upon both portable gaming devices so that each player can easily check the score from his or her own device.

Magnetometer Embodiments—in some embodiments of the present invention a magnetometer is included along with said accelerometer to determine the direction in which the ball was thrown. This may be used to determine, for example, the component of a football throw that was made in the downfield direction. Such a component may be used instead of traditional football throw distance, in computing game scores and/or orchestrating game play.

Computer Orchestrated Games

The following examples are provided to illustrate some types of computer moderated football catch games which may be orchestrated using one or more portable gaming computers 100C and the football peripheral device 100P described above. The examples provided below are not intended to be all inclusive. One skilled in the art will appreciate that a multitude of games may be devised for use with invention and no limitation in the scope of the invention is intended by the examples provided below.

BASIC FOOTBALL CATCH: The most basic game played by kids with a football is “catch”. Kids can spend hours throwing a football ball 200A back and forth, developing their throwing and catching skills. With a suitably equipped football peripheral device, the basic game of catch can become a computer orchestrated experience that has added fun and complexity, while helping kids assess and develop their football throwing and/or football catching skills. The skills kids can develop include learning to throw a football with a good spiral, increasing the distance of a football throw, increasing the speed of a football throw, and/or increasing the ability the catch a football. In the current example, consider the following configuration, although other configurations are possible: The portable gaming computer 100C is a hand-held computer worn on the waist and programmed with a multitude of “catch” games. The gaming peripheral device is a football, equipped with one or more accelerometers that detect time varying acceleration values of the ball 200A and convey the data to portable gaming computers 100C by a wireless data link.

Based upon the characteristic profile of the received acceleration data, the portable gaming computer 100C is programmed to determine if the ball 200A has been thrown by a player, caught by a player, or if it was missed by the player, and the relative magnitude of each dynamic event. The portable gaming computer 100C may also be programmed to determine the characteristics of the motion of the ball 200A as it is thrown. Based upon these programmatic determinations, a variety of computer orchestrated enhancements to game play can be implemented using the portable gaming computer 100C.

For example using the processed data determinations described above, the portable gaming computer 100C may be programmed to keep score of a two player 210, 215 football catch game; counting how many times the ball 200A has been successfully thrown and caught without being dropped. The two players 210, 215 try to achieve the highest possible score without dropping the ball 200A through consecutive tosses and catches. This score is optionally displayed in real-time upon the display 25 of the portable gaming computer(s) 100C (100C′). In some embodiments the score is based only upon the number of consecutive throw-catch pairs. In other embodiments the score is also based upon the time require to achieve the total number of successful throw-catch pairs, the distance of each successful throw-catch pairs, the height of each successful throw catch-pair, the flight time of each successful throw-catch pairs, the spiral quality of each successful throw-catch pairs, and/or the velocity of each successful throw-catch pair.

In one embodiment, the score is announced by an audio subsystem 80 on the portable gaming computer 100C and therefore heard audibly by the players so they do not need to view the display 25. As discussed previously, the portable gaming computer 100C may be worn by the players 210, 215, on their belt or on their wrist; each player 210, 215 having a portable gaming computer 100C (either orchestrating game play independently, or one as a master and the other as a slave.) This allows the score to be displayed 25 or heard audibly through the speakers 95. In addition background music and/or sound effects may be played by the portable gaming computer 100C in coordination with gaming action. For example, when it is determined that player 210 has dropped the ball 200A a suitable sound effect is played. Similarly, as the players 210, 215 build up a higher and higher score, more energetic background music may be played. Similarly, in some embodiments the music may increase its tempo and/or volume as more and more consecutive catches are accrued by players. When the ball is finally dropped, the music may be configured to automatically stop playing and/or change to different music. Similarly when the ball is finally dropped a sound effect such as an explosion or car crash or splash sound may be played.

SPEED-CATCH: In a variant of the basic catch game, the present invention may be configured to orchestrate a speed catch game in which the users must complete the most number of successful throw-catch pairs and/or the greatest accrued distance of successful throw-catch pairs within a given time period. Such a game does not require that the throw-catch pairs be consecutive but rather imposes a time limit, such as 180 seconds, upon the users, requiring them to rapidly toss and catch the ball as many times as they can and/or with the most distance they can, during the allotted time.

ACCRUED YARDAGE CATCH: In a variant of the basic catch game, the present invention may be configured to total the yardage (or other distance measure) of the successful throws from one player to another. In an accrued yardage game, the total amount of yardage successfully accrued in a series of throw-catch pairs (that occur without a miss) is tallied by the computer. The accrued yardage may be displayed to the players upon their portable gaming computers. The accrued yardage may also be used to determine other scoring events. For example, in one embodiment an accrued yardage of 100 yards may be used by the present invention to award a Touchdown the player(s). In this way, each time the players achieve a multiple of 100 yards of accrued yardage thrown they may be awarded a touchdown, turning a simple game of catch into a more realistic football gaming scenario. Upon scoring a touchdown, an audio phrase “touchdown” may be output the player(s). In some embodiments the players complete to achieve an accrued yardage of 100 yards in the fewest number of throws, the score being based upon how few a number of throws can achieve the target accrued yardage. In other embodiments the players compete to achieve the accrued yardage target (for example 100 yards) in the shortest amount of elapsed time, the score being based upon how little elapsed time passed during the time the players attempted to achieve the accrued yardage target.

ADVANCED CATCH: Using the processed data determinations describe above, the portable gaming computer 100C may also keep track of the flight time Δt 310 of the ball 200A between successive throws and catches. This flight time Δt 310 may be used as a primary factor in scoring the game, making for a much more interesting and fun game than traditional catch. For example, the portable gaming computer 100C may assign a high score for a successful catch from player 210 to player 215, with the greatest flight time 310. This would push the players to throw the ball 200A higher and/or farther without dropping the ball 200A. The portable gaming computer 100C may orchestrate game play in a variety of ways. In addition to and/or instead of flight time, throw height, throw distance, and spiral quality may also be used in the computation of gaming score values and/or gaming score increments. In some embodiments, a farther distance, lower height, and a higher quality spiral, may be features that achieve higher score increments.

In addition background music and/or sound effects may be played by the portable gaming computer 100C in coordination with gaming action. For example, sounds may be selected and/or varied depending upon how long the ball 200A was in the air prior to a catch. In one embodiment a sound effect is played by the portable gaming computer that varies in pitch, the pitch increasing as the flight time Δt 310 mounts during a toss of the tossable football object 200.

In another example, the portable gaming computer 100C may be programmed to simply assign a score based upon repeated successful catches (until a drop), the weighting of each catch being based upon how long the flight time Δt 310 was determined to be. In this way, the fastest method for two players 210, 215 to achieve a high score is to throw the ball 200A far. Another scoring method is for the portable gaming computer 100C to actually moderate play; thereby instructing the players that they must achieve a longer flight time Δt 310 (or distance) in order to advance their score. This may be accomplished by prompting the players 210,215 after each consecutive throw. For example, the portable gaming computer 100C may require that the players 210, 215 step apart (separate the distance between them) after every few successful catches.

In addition to flight time Δt 310, other parameters may be required by the portable gaming computer 100C to enhance difficulty, such as the magnitude of the throw. Because the portable gaming computer 100C may be programmed to determine how hard the ball 200A was thrown, the game may require a throws of increasing difficulty. This may be used along with the flight time 310 data by the portable gaming computer 100C, to determine the trajectory of the throw.

FOOTBALL PLAY SIMULATION CATCH—in some embodiments of the present invention, the players line up on a line of scrimmage and hike the ball to begin a simulated football play. The quarterback player then fades back and throws the ball to a receiver player as they receiver player runs a play pattern. The quarterback throws the ball to the receiver player. The routines of the present invention may be configured to monitor the HIKE EVENT and beginning a play timer for determining the elapsed time of the play. The routines of the present invention may be configured, for example, to require the quarterback to throw the football within a certain amount of elapsed time, thereby emulating the pressure applied to the quarterback by the rushing defense. For example, the quarterback may be given 10 seconds to toss the ball by the routines of the present invention. If the quarterback uses more than 10 seconds, the routines of the present invention may determine that the quarterback was sacked by the simulated rushing defense. The routines of the present invention may then stop play action with an alarm sound or other audible indicator such as an audible phrase “quarterback sacked!”

On the other hand, if the quarterback throws the ball within the allotted time (i.e. the 10 seconds or other time increment allowed after a hike by the present invention), the routines of the present invention are configured to determine if a pass is successfully completed between the quarterback and the receiver. This is performed by detecting the dynamic throw event and dynamic catch event as described previously. If a successful pass is completed, points are awarded to the players who completed the pass. The points may be based upon the flight time, throw distance, spiral quality, and/or other detected qualities of the pass. In some embodiments an accrued distance is tallied and the points are awarded if the quarterback and receiver achieve a target accrued distance, for example 100 yards. In some embodiments the accrued distance is used to determine if the quarterback and receiver achieve a first down. This can be performed by determining if more than 10 yards of accrued distance are achieved within for consecutive plays. Note, each play may be determined by a Hike event. In some embodiments a button is pressed by the quarterback to signal that a new play is beginning. In this way, the present invention may be configured to orchestrate a realistic football game in which a quarterback player must hike the ball and under time pressure must make a complete pass to a receiver player. Furthermore the present invention may monitor first downs by determining the passing yardage achieved by the players within four consecutive plays and awarding a first down if more than 10 yards are achieved. Furthermore, the present invention may monitor accrued yardage during the time that the players have gaming possession of the ball (i.e. are identified as offense). The accrued yardage may be tallied to determine if a target yardage is achieved (for example 100 yards) and if so a touchdown may be awarded by the present invention.

These features may be use to enable Team Play. In a team play scenario a plurality of players are involved in gaming action, two or more assigned to each of two teams. The present invention assigns one team as offense and one team as defense. The offensive team has a quarterback and one or more receivers as described previously. The defensive team has defensive players that try to prevent a successful throw-catch pair, by blocking and/or knocking down a pass from said quarterback player to a receiver player. In this way the offensive team completes under computer moderation, trying to achieve successful throw-catch pairs while the defense team tries to prevent the successful throw catch pairs. As the game progresses, the routines of the present invention keep track of first downs (as described above) and/or keeps track of accrued yardage (as described above) to determine if the offense team retains possession of the ball and successfully achieves a touchdown.

If the offensive team does not complete a first down, the present invention is configured to change the possession of the ball by indicating that the alternate team is now on offense. In this way the present invention moderates game play. The alternate team now has its chance to score a touch down under the rules governed by the computer moderated game play apparatus. The routines of the present invention thus use such rules to determine successful passes, determine successful first down play series, and determine based upon accrued yardage and/or the number of successful passes, if a touchdown is achieved by a team. The routines of the present invention also monitor accrued game time, defining gaming quarters, halves, and/or full game time periods. In this way the present invention may moderate a complete simulated football game among a group of players, monitoring completions, first downs, and game clock time. Within the allotted game clock time the teams compete to score touchdowns. The routines of the present invention keep track of each teams score and determines which team wins when the game clock time has fully elapsed. In this way the routines of the present invention enable a realistic computer moderated football game for a plurality of players, upon a real field with a realistic football peripheral device.

In some embodiments the present invention is configured to enable the quarterback player to select plays from a plurality of plays by using the user interface of his or her portable gaming computer. In this way the quarter back may select a target play and the routines of the present invention may be configured to assess if the quarterback and receiver successfully complete the selected play based upon, for example, the flight time and/or flight trajectory of the ball.

To help users keep track the gaming progress, the present invention may be configured to output as visual and/or auditory reports the current down of the game. For example, upon first down the routines of the present invention may output an audio message “First Down” to the players upon the field. This may be played through each of their portable gaming computers or may be displayed upon a screen. Similar reports are upon other downs, for example “Second Down,” “Third Down,” and “Forth Down.” In some such embodiments the computer may also output the amount of yards required to complete a first down. For example, if 5 yards are needed to complete a first down in a current play series, the routines may output “Forth and Five” as an audio message. If a successful pass is completed of five yards or more, the routines will output “First Down!” and reset the play sequence counter to first down. In general the current down is also displayed upon the screens of the portable gaming computers as is the gaming clock and gaming score so that users can also look at their screens to check the gaming stats.

In some embodiments, one team may punt to the other. This may occur after the routines of the present invention determine that it is the beginning of the game, the beginning of a time period of the game, one team has scored a touchdown, or one team selects to punt on Forth Down rather than go for the first down. The team may selectively do this by selecting an option upon the user interface of the portable gaming device. When in a punt mode the routines of the present invention are configured to determine a dynamic kick event and monitor flight time and/or initial velocity and/or acceleration magnitudes upon kick to determine the distance of the kick. The routines of the present invention may then set a target yardage that must be achieved by the receiving team in order to score a touchdown based upon the assessment of the dynamics of the kick event. Thus upon a strong kick the receiving team is assigned a large target yardage to achieve a touch down. Upon a weaker kick the receiving team is assigned a shorter target yardage.

USER OVERRIDES—in some embodiments of the present invention the routines of the present invention may incorrectly assess a catch or miss or throw event. This may occur for example if a user catches a ball but does so with a bobble or tip that causes unexpected accelerations in the ball. Still the player may have successfully caught the ball even though the computer determined otherwise. To account for such situations the present invention is provided with an override feature such that a player may interact with the user interface of the present invention, for example upon the portable computer, and indicate to the system that it should change its assessment of particular throw-catch pair. In this way players may correct for inaccurate assessments made by the routines of the present invention. In this way players may change a computer determined miss to a catch or vice versa. The players may also request a “do-over” of a particular play or throw-catch pair if there was some external event that they believe made the play or throw unfair. In this way players may account for external events. The user's may also set through a configuration portion of the user interface, gaming parameters. Such gaming parameters may include, for example, the total game time allowed in a simulated football game and/or the rushing time allowed by the simulated football game (i.e. the amount of time within which the quarterback must throw the ball after it is hiked). Finally the players of the present invention may request a TIME OUT by using a user interface, the Time Out pausing the gaming clock maintained by the routines of the present invention.

The foregoing described embodiments of the invention are provided as illustrations and descriptions. They are not intended to limit the invention to the precise forms described. In particular, it is contemplated that functional implementation of the invention described herein may be implemented equivalently in hardware, software, firmware, and/or other available functional components or building blocks. While the invention herein disclosed has been described by means of specific embodiments, examples and applications thereof, numerous modifications and variations could be made thereto by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention set forth in the claims. 

1. A computer moderated catch game comprising: a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by a user and when the tossable gaming object has been caught, and run a scoring routine that determines a gaming score based at least in part upon a plurality of determined throw events and a plurality of determined catch events.
 2. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further adapted to run timing routines for determining an approximate time interval between one of the plurality of determined throw events and a subsequent one of the plurality of determined catch events that ensues from the one of the plurality of determined throw events.
 3. The computer moderated catch game of claim 2 wherein the gaming score is determined based at least in part upon the approximate time interval between the one of the plurality of determined throw events and the subsequent one of the plurality of determined catch events that ensues from the one of the plurality of determined throw events.
 4. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are comprised at least in part in a portable gaming computer that is in wireless communication with the tossable gaming object.
 5. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further adapted to determine from the representation of sensor data when the tossable gaming object has been missed.
 6. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further adapted to determine from the representation of sensor data when the tossable gaming object is in the air.
 7. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an accelerometer and wherein the one or more processors are adapted to determine that the tossable gaming object is in the air based at least in part upon the representation of sensor data indicating an acceleration value of approximately zero.
 8. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the tossable gaming object is a football object and wherein the one or more processors are further adapted to determine from the representation of sensor data a quality of spiral of the football object.
 9. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the gaming score is determined based at least in part upon a number of determined throw-catch pairs performed in a row without a determined miss.
 10. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are adapted to compute an estimated height of travel of the tossable gaming object following one of the plurality of determined throw events.
 11. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are adapted to compute an estimated distance of travel of the tossable gaming object following one of the plurality of determined throw events.
 12. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are adapted to output a verbal audio report based at least in part upon the gaming score.
 13. The computer moderated catch game of claim 12 wherein the verbal audio report includes a verbal indication of a current number of determined throw-catch pairs performed in a row without a determined miss.
 14. The computer moderated catch game of claim 12 wherein the verbal audio report includes a verbal indication of at least one of an estimated height of travel of the tossable gaming object following one of the plurality of determined throw events or an estimated distance of travel of the tossable gaming object following one of the plurality of determined throw events.
 15. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the one or more processors are further adapted to determine if a first down has been achieved based upon an estimated distance of travel of the tossable gaming object during at least one determined throw-catch pair.
 16. The computer moderated catch game of claim 1 wherein the sensor is an RFID scanner.
 17. A computer moderated throwing game comprising: a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data a time interval that represents the duration between when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by the user and when the tossable gaming object is ensuingly caught or hits the ground, run a height estimating routine that determines an estimated maximum height achieved by the tossable gaming object during the time interval, and run a scoring routine that determines a score based upon the estimated maximum height achieved by the tossable gaming object during each of a plurality of throws.
 18. The computer moderated catch game of claim 17 wherein the height estimating routine determines the estimated maximum height based at least in part upon the time interval.
 19. The computer moderated catch game of claim 17 wherein the one or more processors are comprised at least in part in a portable gaming computer that is in wireless communication with the tossable gaming object.
 20. The computer moderated catch game of claim 17 wherein the score is based at least in part upon a determination of whether or not the tossable gaming object was caught.
 21. A computer moderated throwing game comprising: a tossable gaming object including a sensor for detecting motion imparted upon the tossable gaming object by a user; and one or more processors adapted to receive a representation of sensor data from the sensor, determine from the representation of sensor data a time interval that represents the duration between when the tossable gaming object has been thrown by the user and when the tossable gaming object is ensuingly caught or hits the ground, run a distance estimating routine that determines an estimated distance achieved by the tossable gaming object during the time interval, and run a scoring routine that determines a score based upon the estimated distance achieved by the tossable gaming object during each of a plurality of throws.
 22. The computer moderated catch game of claim 21 wherein the distance estimating routine determines the estimated distance based at least in part upon the time interval.
 23. The computer moderated catch game of claim 21 wherein the one or more processors are comprised at least in part in a portable gaming computer that is in wireless communication with the tossable gaming object.
 24. The computer moderated catch game of claim 21 wherein the score is based at least in part upon a determination of whether or not the tossable gaming object was caught. 